On Love and Other Things
by Merl Laurence
Summary: A series of shorts and collections of one shots, related and not, about relationships. Mostly to feature Steve and Kono, with support from Danny and Chin. See individual chapters for summaries.
1. One

On Love and Other Things

Summary: Guy talk about our favorite couple to be.  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything H50.

Thank you for all the support and encouragement to continue writing. Since Chin, Steve, Danny and Kono refuse to stop having conversations in my head, I've been forced to start dictation.

One.

# # #

Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett's House  
Oahu, Hawaii

"What you need Steven, is a woman who likes the same balance that you do. Someone who wants her own career and a life and who won't mind that you do too. Yes, it was wrong of you to assume and expect that Catherine would readily give up her career to be your happy little housewife. But seriously? Man, you just aren't the type."

Danny was on a roll. After noticing his partner's surly mood all day, he'd finally gotten him to confess and tell him what was bothering him.

He broke it off.

With Catherine.

Or maybe it was the other way around? Not that there was really a relationship there. There was, but it was based more on physical comforts than emotional. Though, if Steve were really honest with himself, he would have admitted some time ago that maybe he was ready for it. He knew that Catherine on some level was. Or at the very least he _thought_ she was. He guessed he was wrong.

"What the hell are you talking about Danny?"

"Just that, okay you? You?" The blonde detective gestured wildly with his hands. "You? With a trophy wife? Her making, uh, Martha Stewart dinners, waiting for you to come home, grabbing a beer for you and - and letting you do all the work? Letting you have all the fun, catching bad guys and stuff? You think that Suzy-Homemaker is gonna be your type of girl?" Danny's hands continued to flail about.

Steve opened his mouth to answer then closed it again. He shook his head, conceding. "I guess I never really thought of it that way. No... you're right."

"Excuse me?" Danny held up an index finger. "Wait, can I record that? This stupid phone has a record message function on it somewhere, I know..." he began fumbling in his pockets for his smart phone. He glanced around Steve's ocean-front backyard in hopes of finding another soul to bear witness to such a statement.

"Very funny Danny," said Steve, catching on to Danny's movements.

Danny smirked and stuck his phone back into his pocket, he crossed his arms across his chest and pinned Steve with a look.

"What? You want me to elaborate?"

"Yes! Yes, Steve! I want a detailed description of why _I am_ _right_. And feel free to discuss the merits of _why_ as well. Because, this... this I really want to hear."

"Fine." Steve huffed, eying him with irritation. He sat down in his lawn chair and extended an arm out. "Part of what excited me about Catherine was that she worked on a big boat with guns and did things in her career that were pretty bad ass. She's beautiful, smart and sexy."

"Hey. Smart is sexy... continue."

Steve looked at him incredulously, "you never let up do you?"

"Never," he said, fixing Steve with another pointed look.

"She has a job that she is phenomenal at. A career and a life that she loves." Steve explained extending his other arm out and nodding slightly.

"That she apparently would never give up for anything," Danny finished for him. "Or _you,_ for that matter," he added with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Ouch, Danno."

Steve brought his arms back in and looked down at the water lapping at he sand.

Danny exhaled and dropped his hands. "Sorry, babe. But it's kinda true."

"Yeah." Admitted Steve, working his jaw.

They both picked up their beers then and toasted each other, each taking a long sip. "I don't know why, for the life of me, I thought maybe I could get her to give it up. I was obviously wrong in assuming she ever would." He watched Danny take a seat in the lawn chair next to him.

The New Jersey-an felt a little guilty. Feeling as if he just added insult to injury to Steve and his situation with Catherine, he suddenly wanted to try and make him feel better.

"You know what? Being on the move like you have recently and – and doing what you do. It's not healthy anyway. To think that any of us could ever maintain, let alone try to have a _normal_ home life is ridiculous." Danny looked at his partner and friend. He smirked and ducked his head.

Steve realized then that Danny had inadvertently revealed an insecurity that he had obviously been feeling for some time. He owed it to his friend to make him see that he understood.

"Hey. Danny. You do a fantastic job of providing Grace with as much of a comfortable and normal home life as possible. Despite you and Rachel not being able to keep it together. You just also happen to be a cop who fights bad guys at the same time. You're doing a good job."

Danny nodded, a slight frown forming along his lips. He sighed heavily and dug a loafer clad foot into the sand. "I gotta admit, sometimes... sometimes I feel like I'm barely there you know? Like I'm always playing 'catch-up.' Like there's, uh, always something I forgot, or need to do for Grace. And - and I'm just waiting and convinced Rachel is going to call one day and tell me I fucked up again. And then I'll never be allowed to see Grace again."

"That's not gonna happen," Steve said with conviction, shaking his head slightly.

"Thanks, but you're just saying that because you're my partner. And of course I don't mind. But I don't think calling in any favors into Jameson is gonna work this time around." Danny pointed at Steve, a timbre of sadness crept it's way into his voice. "Especially if things get totally goofy and outta control."

"Well, I got news for you. You're only half right Danno. Yes. I am your partner. But I'm not just saying it, _just because._ I'm saying it because I don't believe she would ever do that to you. _I_ can see how good a father you are to Grace and how much you try, I'm sure as hell that her mother can see that too."

Danny gave a tight little smile and waved his beer bottle at the ocean as if drawing out his thoughts in mid air would give him an idea of how to respond. "She's with Stan now Steve. She's his wife. They just happen to have my kid. They, _they_ get to raise Gracie. I don't know." Danny took a deep breath and smacked his lips lightly. "I hope you're right."

"Yeah well," Steve gestured idly at the oncoming sunset. "I'm pretty much always right."

Danny chuckled. "Really Steven? How did Catherine ever put up with you?"

"Well for one thing, we really didn't do much talking," Steve said with a rakish grin, his blue eyes twinkling.

Danny flat out guffawed. "Hence, why it didn't work out."

"Meh, what was I supposed do? Say I was 'sorry' for asking her to give up her career to move in with me? Isn't that what women want?"

"Are you kidding me? Steve? Really?" Danny paused a beat. "Really?"

# # # # #

Five-O Headquarters  
Honolulu, Oahu

Kono rolled her bicycle into Five-0 HQ roughly, loudly banging into the outer office doors and appearing to not really care.

The guys were already seated at the conference table, eying her with interest as she unceremoniously dumped her bicycle in her office and grabbed a change of more professional looking clothes. Steve arched a brow towards Chin and Danny.

"I thought you were gonna be in early Cuz?" Chin asked the rookie cop.

"Ugh, I did. I just rode out to meet someone for breakfast first," she responded. She was clearly irritated about something and Danny glanced to Steve to see if he picked up on it. Steve in turn looked to Chin and inched his head towards Kono, silently asking what was up.

"Ben?" asked Chin.

"Who's Ben?" asked Danny.

"Bennett Bass," answered Steve.

"The surfing guy?" Danny, questioned.

Kono scoffed and left her mouth agape in disgust before asking, "really? You guys discussed who I'm dating?"

"No, Cuz. You know I wouldn't do that," said Chin quickly, trying to calm down his younger cousin. He could see the heat rising in her cheeks, her eyes getting darker and decided it was best to caution both men with a warning look.

Instead, Steve cleared his throat and gave her a sheepish look. "Sorry Kono, I just noticed..." he trailed off, gesturing toward the friendship bracelet that she still wore on her wrist. The one that she previously mentioned Ben gave her.

She held up her wrist and sighed. "Oh, yah." Dropping her arm, she shook her head slightly. "Whatever," she shrugged. "And I just want to say, no offense, though you guys came awfully close just now, but _men_ kinda suck."

"Oh boy," Danny said. He worried his bottom lip and looked at her. The glare she gave him was encouragement enough to keep quiet.

Chin on the other hand, chanced saying something, "do tell, Cuz." He crossed his arms and leaned back.

Kono shook her head. "I'm not even going to get into it Cuz." She made her way towards the locker room. "But I have to say, why do I even bother? Back then, he knew what surfing meant to me. I would have never given it up if I had the chance. Now I'm a cop and he thinks my commitment to my life, my decisions, have changed? I wish there was a way for him to understand, I'm _not _staying home, barefoot and pregnant. I want both, you know? I want a career _and_ a life, and I know that there _can_ be a balance between the two..." she said as she disappeared into the locker room to change.

Chin snorted softly, shaking his head and then he saw the glances that Danny and Steve exchanged. Danny opened his mouth to say something but Steve just raised a hand to stop him and walked away. Their boss shook his head slightly, took one last glance towards the locker room and then disappeared into his office.

"What was that all about?" asked Chin, quirking an eyebrow.

"Which one? Kono or Steve?"

"Uh, never mind Brah. Maybe I don't want to know." Chin replied wisely.

Danny chuckled and picked up their latest case file. "Hey, how about we try that Zippy's place that you guys keep talking about for lunch today?"

Chin shook his head. "Thinking about lunch already? Sure thing, you can try the chili-spaghetti, it's my favorite."

"Wait. What? What is wrong with this place? Now you're telling me you serve chili on your pasta?"

End.

# # #

A/N: As a KoVe fan, I needed to deal with Catherine somehow. This is my take on how it would go down and how it would pave the way for Steve and Kono in the future. Oh, there's also a tribute to my favorite ship of all time – Mulder/Scully, see if you all can find it.


	2. Two

On Love and Other Things

Summary: A little bit of flirtation never hurt anybody...that badly anyway.  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything H50.

Thanks again for the many encouraging words to keep writing.

Two.

# # #

Mapunapuna  
Salt Lake, Oahu

The three men sat in an unmarked van. Waiting for what seemed like hours, but were, in actuality only 30 minutes. Chin patiently checked and rechecked the monitors that were still black and continued to fiddle with the volume on the mikes and recorders. While Danny studied their perp, he noticed that Steve tried as best he could to pace in the tiny little space, rolling his chair back and forth from monitor to computer to recorder. His behavior was not uncommon, but annoying as crap and it was enough to make Danny ask, "what the hell is wrong with you? You alright?"

Steve stopped mid roll and scooted his seat next to Chin. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just have a bad feeling about this," he said.

"So technically you're not really _fine._" Once again, Danny's overwhelming need to always constantly argue with Steve won out. "You're all worked up, what's the deal?"

Steve grunted. "Look, maybe it's not that I have a _bad _feeling. Something's just not right, or maybe... just feels different. _Off._"

Chin on the other hand found that he could easily read the tense expression on Steve's face. "Brah, she's been UC before, remember?" He pointed out, trying to soothe Steve. It was obvious to him that Steve was concerned for Kono. "Sang Min, that Miss Liao in that prostitution ring? She's gonna be fine Boss. Plus, Honolulu PD has had a guy embedded for months now."

Steve exhaled loudly. "Guys, I know that. But this is the first time it's taken so long to get eyes and ears on her and her situation."

"She's two minutes late Steven. Kono's a big girl," added Danny.

At that moment, the screens and speakers began to hum to life in the surveillance van. Kono's face in black and white filled one of the screens. Chin and Danny looked over at Steve and he nodded, an extremely small smile on his lips.

"Hi guys," Kono whispered. "Sorry it took a bit, one of those goons just wouldn't leave me alone. I found out from our guy that our target will be in the building in 15 minutes, you guys all set?"

"Yeah Cuz, you got this right? We'll be in right behind you," Chin said.

"No worries, I know Cuz."

"Watch yourself Kono, Steve's itching to get you outta there for some reason," Danny piped in.

Chin could see a surprised expression on her face. "Aw, you worried about me Boss? I can handle this," Kono said firmly.

Steve ran a hand over his face and gave Danny an irritated look. "Oh, I have no doubt about that, Kono." He gave Danny a steely, blue glare for good measure. The Jersey haole chuckled back, shaking his head.

"You know she could kick-ass with the best of us, right?" reminded Chin.

"I know that, like I said, I have no doubt about her ability to handle herself in the situation," clarified Steve.

Danny couldn't help himself, "she could probably kick yours."

"Right."

"Guys, guys? Still UC here, shut the hell up please," Kono whispered harshly. She let out a small chuckle then. They could see her shake her head in amusement.

"All I wanted to point out was that, Kono? Be careful, we've got your back, let's get this done and get you outta there, okay?"

The radio crackled a little before Kono responded. "Got it Boss."

"We're a go in five, Cuz," Chin said.

"Kay, one more thing tho. Boss? You never answered my question," she said, her voice sounded so distant to all of them.

The men fell silent. Chin and Danny were particularly curious about Steve's answer. Yes, they all worried about their rookie teammate. But neither Danny or Steve had voiced it before. Not to each other and certainly not to her. Chin got a 'get out of jail free' card mostly because he was related to Kono, and family always had a right to show concern whether you wanted them to or not. Danny never said anything before, only because, frankly, Kono was a little scary when she wanted to be. Then again she'd all but proven how capable she was of the job from the very first case they all had with her. But, both men wondered if that had changed for their boss.

Steve cleared his throat then, bringing them all out of their reverie. "Uhm, that depends," he said finally, a smirk tugging at the ends of his mouth.

"On what?" Kono asked, her soft, disembodied voice filling the van.

Steve never took his eyes off her image. "On whether or not you'll still want to kick my ass after I give you an answer," Steve said, finally letting the smirk go.

"You know, I could kick your ass either way," she said with a definite smile in her voice.

Steve chuckled. "Yeah."

"Yeah what? Tick-tick Boss, we gotta go soon," she urged.

"I am worried. About you. But I know you got this, so lets go," he answered truthfully.

"Oh my God, are you serious?" Danny asked incredulously, gesturing towards the screen with Kono's image and back to Steve.

"What? What Danny?" Steve asked back, mirroring Danny's gesticulations with his own.

"You guys were so flirting just then," he exclaimed.

"We were not flirting," deadpanned Steve.

They heard a soft snort from Kono. "Let's go guys."

"Yeah brah, you were," Chin confirmed, starting to move. "What's up with that?"

"Really guys?" Steve gave them his famous aneurysm face. He was already reaching for his gun and opening the van door as the other two men followed, not allowing them to answer.

# # #

Steve saw it all end before it even began. Kono, at times, was almost too good for a rookie. He didn't like to think much about what kinds of things would happen when her luck and timing ran out. He just hoped that one them would be there when she needed it. Preferably him.

In this instance, the perp broke free, had a gun and shot at her. Good thing she was such a good shot. Good thing the perp sucked in his aim. She managed to not kill the bastard but got him good in the knee. Steve was pretty sure, that later, during the jerk-off's interrogation? Said knee would start to become excruciatingly painful unless he cooperated and provided more information.

For now, as he watched Chin and Danny deal with the perp, he turned towards Kono to tell her what a good job she had done.

And then his face paled.

A red blossom began to form across her t-shirt on her lower left torso. It was just below her Kevlar vest and right above the leather of her belt in her jeans. He heard her suck in a sharp breath and suddenly her hands were pulling at the vest to remove it. He was there right along with her, practically ripping the vest away and helping her as she yanked her shirt up to look down on herself. His hands gingerly inspected the wound, it was just a graze. It was not unlike the one Danny got when they went after Doran all those months ago.

"Let's get this looked at," Steve said, guiding her towards a Bus. She consciously leaned into his hand, warm and comforting against her back.

"Shit," Kono said. Steve arched a brow and looked at her as they walked slowly. She smirked back and shook her head. "Ow."

He chuckled.

"I got shot and you're laughing?"

"No! No." He shook his head adamantly and eased her down onto the bumper of the Bus. The paramedic started cleaning her injury right away. "I would never, this is totally serious. It could have been bad. I just, I can't help thinking about how Danny, when he got shot by Doran, he – he got all sensitive and upset. And you? All you can say is 'shit' and 'ow'." He practically grinned. _You're so bad ass._

She couldn't help but smile a little in return. Ducking her head to tuck her hair behind her ear, she said, "had you going there for a bit though."

Steve gave her a questioning look.

"Your face, Boss, when you saw the blood. _My blood_..."

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, I don't like to see any of you hurt." He looked away briefly.

"Oh."

"Least of all you," he added quickly as he noticed Chin was already upon them. Kono looked at Steve curiously.

"Cuz?" Chin said, interrupting her study and not bothering to hide the worry in his voice.

"I'm okay. It's just a scratch," she said as she suddenly sucked in a breath, hard.

Chin and Steve glared at the medic who gave them all a sheepish look. He hurriedly continued with his task of applying the final bandage to Kono's side.

"I think, I got into worse in surfing, eating it on the reef and stuff like that," Kono added.

"Yeah, but still Cuz," replied Chin. "I'm just glad it isn't, we all are," he smiled a little in relief.

When Danny finally joined them, he asked, "you alright?"

Kono smiled at all of them, nodding. "You guys... so it wasn't just Steve then, that was worried about me?"

"What in there?" asked Danny, gesturing towards the warehouse type building that they were next to. "No, _I_ wasn't worried about you. I know better. Chin knows better. In fact, just now? I wasn't asking you if you were okay," he winked at her good-naturedly. "I was asking him," he said, jutting a thumb towards Steve.

Kono laughed.

Chin couldn't help but shake his head, he gave Kono a squeeze on her shoulder, mostly to reassure himself and left to go get her Cruze.

Danny gave Kono a smirk and squeezed her shoulder as well. He caught the keys to his Camaro from Steve and turned to go, but not before arching a brow towards his partner.

Steve in turn, glared at him, then waved at him dismissively before turning back to the girl still seated on the bumper of the ambulance.

Danny snickered at Steve's attempts to shoo him away, muttering to himself, "could you be more obvious Steven?" Shaking his head, he shuffled off.

Receiving some last minute instructions from the paramedic, a final nod, some extra gauze and she was ready to go. Upon standing though, Kono was met by Steve's intense gaze.

"What?" she asked, barely able to look away. _Damn._

"I was thinking," he began softly.

For some unknown reason, she felt herself begin to blush. "Yeah?" Kono said somewhat breathlessly.

"That maybe, you know after a day like today..." the seriousness of his voice caught her off guard.

"Yes Boss?"

"... you would ever consider wearing a full Kevlar body suit?" he smirked, eyes twinkling.

Kono squinted, her mouth twitched at the corners. "Fo' real?" She shook her head and started for her cousin, who had pulled up in her car. "Oh, man. You are so going. To. Get. Your. Ass. Kicked." She said, laughing. Her smile gigantic, her dimples deep, her giggles drifting around them.

Steve couldn't help but laugh in return. "I can't wait."

End.

# # #

A/N: Flirtatious buggers.


	3. Three

On Love and Other Things

Summary: Steve and Kono get some. Or do they?  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything H50.

Once again, thanks very much for the kind words of support and awesomeness. All you KoVe shippers out there have been great at encouraging me to continue to write these random little fics. I'm so glad you all have enjoyed them!

Three.

# # #

_Philippine Consulate  
Nuuanu, Oahu_

"_The targets are young women who recently just immigrated to the islands from the Philippines. Nursing school graduates who're looking for jobs to earn money to send home. Please McGarrett, I went to Governor Jameson because she said you could help me stop him. I... I have a daughter myself..."_

_

* * *

The stately, Southern Colonial building sat nestled amongst the lush landscaping common in the valleys of Hawaii. The pounding, throbbing club music, pouring from the residence however, was more commonly heard in the heart of Waikiki, from the clubs along Ala Moana Boulevard. It was the second time in six months that the Consulate General, Farolan Alconcel, was holding a fundraiser. But this time he had a mission._

* * *

_Most people discreetly ignore the overly amorous couple hidden in the shadows._

_Kono lightly gripped the lapels of Steve's coat and leaned into him. He nuzzled her earlobe and lightly kissed her neck, eliciting a soft moan from her. The club music continued to pulse through the old wooden home, causing it to vibrate. _

"_Boss. Boss?" she whispered loudly. "You have a good enough view?"_

_Steve surveyed the rest of the great-room. From their dark corner, leaning back against the low shelf with Kono in his arms, he had a good vantage point of all the guests. _

"_Yeah," he said. "Chek looks like he's cataloguing the women here," Steve said, bristling. Then he remembered Kono and instantly relaxed._

_

* * *

_

_While one hand rested on her slim hip, the other found its way to the daringly low-cut back of her midnight blue dress. Running his warm hand and fingers across the bare skin of her lower back caused her breath to catch and she pressed herself against him. _

_Steve pulled her closer to him, which required repositioning his legs so that she could stand between them. A small "oh," escaped her lips and he felt himself instantly fill with heat. Kono's breathing deepened against his ear, encouraging him to use both hands to explore the smooth, silky skin of her back. _

_

* * *

_

"_His name is Chek Yong. He came to the Consulate claiming to be a 'business man' with dual citizenship with the Philippines and Singapore. His business, I found, involved human trafficking." Pacing in his office, Alconcel sounded broken. "Commander McGarrett, I unfortunately assisted him in acquiring approximately fifteen young women the last time he generously arranged a fundraising event here for the Filipino Community. But I assure you, I unknowingly did so."_

"_I've been working these last few months to get him back here for the sole purpose of finding a way to end his exploitation of these young women. The Governor assured me that your task-force would be able to put an end to all of this." Alconcel did nothing to hide the desperation in his voice. "We must succeed McGarrett."_

_

* * *

_

_Objectivity be damned. How could any man, in their right mind, maintain any focus with THIS woman in their arms? McGarrett was in trouble. _

_

* * *

_

_Kono moved her hands up to rest around his neck, and as Steve pulled back, he shamelessly searched her face for what he himself was suddenly needing. He groaned as his eyes met hers, dark with the same want. Steve held her tight, pressed against him and bent his head to capture her lips with his own. _

_Another deep, throaty moan from Kono and his one hand dipped below the 'v' of material on her lower back to caress and squeeze her. She hissed in surprise, breaking away momentarily. Kono's ragged breathing was driving him delirious with desire. Claiming his lips as she ran her fingers through his hair, she pressed the full length of her torso against him. _

_

* * *

_

"_Kono, I... I mean, I'm sorry, I got maybe a little carried away... "_

_She smirked. "No, It's... it's okay, brah." Her eyes twinkled. "Trust me," her voice softened. "If I didn't on some level want it to happen, if I didn't want to participate the way I did, you'd be flat on the ground with my foot in your mouth."_

_Steve smirked, his blue eyes brighter than usual. "Really." He nodded slightly. "So... that means I have permission to do it again?" He grinned at her rakishly._

_Kono couldn't hold in her snort. "Let me think about it," she said as she started walking away. _

"Danny? Did you even hear what I said?" Chin found Danno slumped over his desk and nudged him in the shoulder. The blonde detective's head bounced up, a look of confusion on his face. He had clearly been sleeping at his desk.

At 8:30 in the morning.

"What? Huh?" mumbled Danny. A red patch had formed on his forehead, indicating the spot at which he rested his head against his desk. Danny shook his head stubbornly, trying to expel the last vestiges of his very strange dream. "Urgh." He ran a hand over his face and blew out a breath.

"Hey Danny, you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry," he said smiling sheepishly. "Not a word to McGarrett, Chin, please." Danny's hands in prayer were bobbing in front of him.

"You sure you aren't sick or something, brah?" Chin's brow furrowed.

"Nah, no. I... haven't been sleeping well, is all." As he shook his head again, Danny cleared his throat loudly. "Uhm, uh, what were you asking?"

"Okay. I said, if those two ever... you know..." Chin gestured towards Kono's and Steve's offices, both of whom were vacant due to their inhabitants running late. "...show up, we should head out."

"Right to finish the Alconcel case." Danny started looking for the file on his desk.

"What? What're you talking about Danny?" Chin looked genuinely worried. "I meant call it day. You think we've got a case?"

"What'dya mean? Seriously, the Consulate General of the Philippines? No?" Danny started to look even more baffled. "Human trafficking?" He stood and gestured. Chin shook his head and crossed his arms across his chest. "No? You're telling me I dreamed a whole case?" _And all the other stuff too?_

"We've been dry all week, brah," answered Chin. "You do know it's Thursday right? We've been up to our armpits in paperwork though." He shook his head, clearly amused. "Must have been some dream."

"Huh."

"So... did we do good? In your dream? Did we solve the case?" Chin asked curiously, leaning against his door frame.

"Hmm, come to think of it," Danny sat again, "I can't remember if we really solved it all, but parts of it were so vivid, you know, so realistic?"

"That's what they feel like, I guess."

"But there was a good guy, Farolan Alconcel, a bad guy, Chek Yong, _and_ Steve and Kono."

"Oh? You even have names?" Chin couldn't suppress his chuckle.

Danny ignored him and continued. "But the weirder thing, is that it was implied that we were there, we just weren't physically there." His hand gestures appeared just as mixed up as he was. "Mostly, I saw Steve and Kono."

Chin arched a brow.

"I know, I know." Danny said, chuckling. "It was so goofy. And... and they were undercover you know? As a party going couple at the Consulate, in a dark corner, doing... _stuff." _His eyebrows shot up suggestively.

Chin scrunched up his face. "Brah, let's not, please... she's my cousin, almost a sister. Can I not think about that kind of stuff?" Chin huffed. He shot a hand out towards Danny, "should I be pissed at you or something? I could be, since you're dreaming about my cousin."

"What? No. No. No. Not me, I mean, yes, she was in my dream." Danny was back-peddling. "But I," he said, poking himself with a finger. "I wasn't the the one, doing stuff, with – with her... it was Steve."

Chin chuckled loudly. "It's okay brah. I was just joking." He paused only briefly to look down at the floor and then his head shot up again. "You sure it was Steve though?" He asked, titling his head.

"Yeah. Yes. Not me." Danny clarified, putting his hands up in surrender. "Look, forget I even said anything. It's that Melatonin I'm taking." He shook his head at his excuse for the bizarre dream he just had.

At work.

While zonked out on his desk.

Chin grinned. "No worries brah, plus, I kinda have this feeling that if they ever developed the courage to, Kono would have it all under control anyway." He smirked slightly.

Danny arched a brow. "Really?"

"Really." Chin softly snorted to himself. "Maybe you should stop taking that herbal sleeping pill," he added. "How'd you manage to get to work anyway?"

The Jersey detective laughed. "Honestly Chin, I remember driving here, but after sitting down at my desk... who knows?"

"I guess that's what a slow week does to us," said Chin, thoughtfully, with some levity.

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

End.

# # #

A/N: How many of you actually hate me right now? Sorry, but I do want them together, of course! But, the flirting, the tension, the banter, all of that is much, much more fun in the end, don't you think? Oh, and I know. I KNOW. What the hell is Danny doing dreaming of his partners doing those things? Hmmmm... Also, I know Melatonin _does not_ do any of that stuff it did to Danny.


	4. Four

On Love and Other Things

Summary: Steve and Catherine have a 'conversation,' post break-up... about Kono and choices.  
Disclaimer: I do not own H50.

Thank you everyone for reading, not just this hot-mess of a series, but my other stories too... I see all the usual suspects commenting/reviewing and I truly, truly appreciate every single one. Once again, your encouragement means so much.

Four.

# # #

Kukui High-school Football Field  
Honolulu, Oahu

They missed their target and landed on the grass with a thud. Kono on top, a small grunt escaping her. Steve on the bottom, the wind barely knocked out of him from Kono's light frame. His hands rested lightly on her lower back as he looked up into her face. His expression was a mixture of humor and surprise at their sudden proximity and he just had to smile. _I can get used to this_, he thought to himself. She looked down at him and rolled her eyes, placing both hands in the middle of his chest, she shoved herself off.

"Oof!"

She was already bolting after Chin, by the time he righted himself. A millisecond later Steve could see her victorious dance, waving Chin's flag in the air as he dropped the football in defeat. Danny chuckled and Steve cracked another smile.

"Fine, I let you win Cuz," said Chin. "I let both of you win," he added, pointedly looking from Steve to Kono. "Thanks for the backup brah," he added sourly, nodding at Danny.

"I was causing a diversion," Danny said defensively, gesturing to Steve and Kono.

"Tripping me so that I tackle my own teammate in flag football is not a diversion Danny," Steve argued. "It's really kinda pathetic."

"Whatever," Danny gesticulated wildly. "Superwoman over there is unstoppable anyway," he motioned towards Kono. "She's like a freakin' female version of you!"

Steve chuckled and watched as Kono and Chin walked up to them, an easy smile breaking from Chin's face. Kono meanwhile, gave Danny a look of mild irritation.

"Fo' real? Danny, you play dirty," she shook her head, trying to hide her amusement. She couldn't help her dimpled smile when he offered her a helpless look. He waved a hand at his recently recovered knee and her smile softened even more.

"That will only get you so far, Danno," Steve warned, pointing at him for emphasis. "Besides, I thought you said you were all healed up? What, you couldn't let Kono and myself kick your butt _fairly_ in flag-football?"

"Eh, if I could interrupt for a moment, I'd like to change teams, maybe," interjected Chin, changing the subject slightly.

Steve's over confidence caused himself to smile smugly at Danny as he spread his hands out in front of him. "You see? Even Chin wants to change teams."

"Oh no, not you Boss," Chin said, his eyes crinkling. "Sorry, but I was talking about the kid over here." Chin laughed at Steve's bewildered expression as he nodded towards Kono, who was already giggling. "No offense," added Chin.

"Ha!" exclaimed Danny. "Serves you right," he pointed at Steve. Kono just shook her head.

Steve chuckled. "Whatever Danny," he said with a dismissive wave. "Too much of a good thing on one team, gives us an unfair advantage anyway," he added. "Isn't that right, Kono?"

Kono chuckled and propped a forearm onto Steve's shoulder while resting the opposite hand on her hip. "Right, Boss."

Crossing his arms across his chest, Steve turned to flash her a mesmerizing smile and it took every effort on her part to pull her eyes away. Then something caught her eye and she immediately straightened, removing her arm. "You, uh, got a visitor, Boss," she said, clearing her throat slightly. Nodding towards the bleachers at the end of the football field, Steve followed her gaze.

"I'll see you guys in a bit," he said as he walked off, his mood changing instantly.

"Yeah, maybe," Danny supplied, as they all watched Steve leave. He turned towards a curious Chin and an apparently worried Kono. "Who wants a beer? I could use one, you two? Yeah? Okay, alright, let's go," Danny seemed to answer for all of them and led the way back to their cars.

# # #

"You didn't tell me 'Kono' was a woman," Catherine pointed out immediately. Steve had of course previously told her about his team, it just never occurred to her why he rarely talked about Kono until now. She met Steve half-way down the steps of the bleachers on the east-side of the football field.

"I didn't? I thought I did," Steve said suspiciously. "'Hello,' by the way."

Catherine snorted softly. "She's pretty," she said, not bothering with really greeting him.

He didn't answer, knowing full well that either way he answered her bait, she'd have something to say about it.

Catherine arched a brow. "She works for you."

"No, she works _with_ me," he corrected.

"For your task-force," said Catherine.

"It's the Governor's Task-Force, not mine." Steve wondered what this was all about.

"But it's _your _team, and she's part of _your_ team," she was starting to sound a little crazy.

"What are you getting at, Catherine?" he asked, huffing slightly.

"That if you're in charge of said Task-Force, that she's a member of, then -"

"So you're insinuating what? What exactly?" He tried not sounding so harsh, but she was starting to piss him off.

"She works _for_ you, Steve," she said again.

"I'm pretty sure we went over this," he said exasperatedly.

"She's your subordinate, you're her supervisor. Didn't you say she was a rookie too?"

"And? What, she's beautiful? So because of that, you think that maybe something's going on?" he asked quickly, wanting this whole conversation to be over.

"I said she was 'pretty', Steve. _You_ said she was 'beautiful'."

_Busted._ Steve shook his head. "You're fucking unbelievable."

"Alright asshole, tell me this. Where does she live? Is she dating anyone? Where does she buy her groceries? What types of things does she like? What does she do for fun?" Catherine asked in rapid fire succession.

"I do not understand, at all, where the hell you are going with this." He grunted, shaking his head wearily.

"I'm testing you, you jackass," she sniped.

"That's enough with the name-calling, Catherine," he growled. "Like I asked you before, what-is-your-point?"

"Just... okay. She is beautiful and you obviously know it. But she's your subordinate and you know that too. So because of it, you purposefully distance yourself from her and strive to constantly to be professional with her. That's why you know nothing about her."

Steve looked at her dumbfounded. "That's the way it should be." _That's it, she's crazy._

Catherine laughed. "But it isn't, is it? You're so obvious. That flag-football game? When that one guy, Danny, I guess? When he tripped you? You could have easily just landed next to her, instead you protected her by doing some unbelievable, gymnastic twist, mid-air, so that you landed on the bottom and she landed on top of you."

"That's ridiculous. I weigh more than her." Steve stated.

"Oh, so now you're going to argue the laws of gravity?" she asked sharply. "Galileo would have proved you wrong too. I bet if you admitted it to yourself, you would acknowledge that you actually know the answers to half of the questions I just asked you about her, if not _all_ of them."

Shaking his head, he said, "whatever. Why..." he sighed heavily, calming himself, "...does any of this matter?" He place his hands on his hips dropped his head.

"You would have told me 'Kono' was a woman, if you weren't attracted to her," she said matter-of-factly.

Steve rolled his eyes and shrugged. He didn't feel like endorsing her craziness anymore.

"Not that you would... do... anything," she smirked. Crossing her arms, she looked at him, as if studying him. "Not that it's stopped you before..." she arched a brow again, shaking her head.

Noting that the football field was now empty except for them, and his teammates having left sometime ago, Catherine blew out a breath. "I'm sorry, Steve. Whatever, I don't even know why we just got into that. You are not my business anymore."

Steve snorted. _First sane thing she's said. _Clearing his throat, he leveled a gaze at her, indicating the previous conversation was over. "Why are you here? You're obviously shipping out today?" he said as he noted her dress blues. He sounded ruder than intended, but he was pretty sure he didn't care at this point.

She nodded and sighed. "Look, the way things ended..."

_Ah, so there's the rub. _"It's fine, I understand. It was wrong of me to assume you would ever change your mind." It sounded practiced, even to himself.

"But that's the thing Steve, I don't even know why I'm even saying this, but maybe if we gave it some time? Like say, later, if I did change my mind... "

"And what if I changed mine?" Steve asked.

"Are you saying you have?" Catherine asked back.

"Possibly. Look, what matters is, I had no right to ask you to give up your career for me, or for _us._ You're a grown woman who knows what she wants. It's not a life with me, I've dealt with it."

"Right. Make me sound like a bitch, Steve."

"I'm not gonna mince words here Catherine, you didn't earlier," he said grimacing, knowing it was a low blow. "But like I said, It was your choice right?"

Catherine sighed heavily, smiling tightly. "Yes. But, why do I have a feeling, you're still gonna call, aren't you?"

"Only on a professional level, if that," he said, sounding like he was making a promise.

She gave him a look. "Really?" she asked.

"I wouldn't want to get you 'court-marshaled' remember?" It felt good to throw that back at her.

Another tight smile. "One last hug?" she asked hopefully as she leaned forward and they embraced warmly. It was funny how it didn't seem so final, to either of them. "I ship out for a while," she stated.

Steve nodded and smirked. "Goodbye, Catherine."

"Goodbye, Commander," she said with a salute as she turned and made her way to her rental car.

End.

# # #

A/N: I know I portrayed Catherine as cray-cray, I apologize. I didn't really mean to, she just came out of my head that way. Also this chapter was based on a comment I received from _star trek nutcase_ (thank you btw!) about how it seems unlikely, given Steve's level of service in the Navy, that he would ever cross the boss/subordinate line. It got me thinking, and this is what I came up with.


	5. Five

On Love and Other Things

Summary: A day at the beach for the team leads to some realizations.  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything H50

Thank you all for reading. To my 'usual suspects,' many heartfelt thanks for the constant encouragement. To cdnyellowrose, thanks for the notes!

Five.

# # #

Ala Moana Beach Park  
Honolulu, Oahu

The picnic table, claimed early by Kamekona was covered with a red gingham cloth and laden with all sorts of Hawaiian picnic goodies: fried chicken from Zippy's, _manapua_ from Patty's Kitchen, spam _musubi_ that Kamekona made himself, Chinese chicken salad from Kono, Imperial spring-rolls from Balé, assorted chips, drinks, _malasadas_ from Leonard's and _haupia_ that Chin made. It was an awesome spread. Not too mention, Kamekona had picked a table located next to his second shaved-iced shop.

"The details is in the planning, brah," he said to Chin, as he noticed the man's questioning but appraising look.

Chin laughed, his eyes crinkling. "Near the water, biggest picnic table out here, next to your shaved-iced stand. How long have you been out here, reserving this table and location?"

"Brah, no worries, only since six." Kamekona laughed.

"AM?" asked Chin as he set down a cooler filled with ice and setting the Longboards in. "Right?"

Kamekona laughed louder, rocking back and forth on his seat.

"PM, last night?" questioned Kono as she walked up with utensils that she retrieved from her car.

He nodded, "shoots Kono." His smile was infectious and both cousins laughed back, shaking their heads. "I wanted to make sure you guys got the best spot," he said in his deep, melodious voice. "That little, haoli brother gets so wound up sometimes," he said shaking his head, referencing Danny. "This way, his _keiki_ can run back and forth to the water and eat and play and everyone would be able to watch her," he said nodding again.

"It's the perfect spot Kamekona, thank you," Kono said, walking over to pat him on his enormous shoulder.

"Yeah, _mahalo_ for your _kokua_, brah," Chin said with smile.

After a particularly trying two week long case, today was a 'mental health' day, as so very much encouraged by Governor Jameson. And as such, the cousins believed it best be spent at the beach. Danny, they figured would have to just deal with it. So to compensate, a well intentioned call was placed to Rachel and she agreed to let Grace attend. Besides, what better way to spend a forced day off than with the youthful naivete of an eight year old?

When Steve and Danny arrived with Grace a few moments later, Kamekona had already blown up a fluorescent pink inner-tube and had a mini life-vest ready for her. Grace ran up to him and gave him a high-five and a brilliant little smile. The New Jersey detective nodded approvingly at Kamekona and chuckled. Kamekona took in Danny's mode of dress; cut off jeans shorts, a white t-shirt, _flip-flops_, and arched a brow.

"Brah, nice. Looks like maybe you getting the hang of it now, at least you kinda fit in," he said waving a giant hand amongst the team. Because really, at least Danny was in shorts and wasn't wearing a tie. He wasn't dressed in swim trunks like Steve and Chin, but the lack of a tie was a start. The boys and Kono laughed, much to Danny's chagrin.

Some moments later, as Kamekona had shuffled off to work his shaved-iced stand and Chin and Danny were knee deep in the water with Grace, Steve found himself smiling at the team.

Kono settled herself next to him on the bench looking out at the water. She was munching on another piece of fried chicken. Steve's eyes twinkled as he watched her.

"Where do you put all that stuff?" he asked.

Kono chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. "What? Are you saying I eat a lot?"

Steve chuckled lightly. "No offense Kono, but yeah. Yeah, you do." He ran an appreciative glance over her features and almost ventured south when she cleared her throat and put her chicken down.

"You best stop there, brah," she said with a smirk. She gave him a look that indicated that she noticed his roving eyes. She shook her head and looked out to the ocean. Really? A tank top and jeans shorts has her boss reacting like this? Since when?

"High metabolism," she explained simply, as she gave him a sidelong glance, wiping her hands.

"Ah, got it," he said. Steve cleared his throat and straightened slightly. "Look, I'm sorry about the..." he nodded slightly, "it was disrespectful of me to..." He blew out a breath. "I'm sorry, Kono... this is kind of awkward, right?"

Kono watched Steve struggle and found it endearing. Truthfully, she didn't mind that he was checking her out, she of course did the same with him. _All. The. Time._ But since it seemed as if they were still defining their relationship, working and otherwise, she knew that it would be better to remain professional about the whole thing. Feeling only marginally bad, she had to let him off the hook, because frankly, she had thought he would have been more smooth about something like this. Something was different about his behavior towards her.

"Don't worry about it Boss," she said, leaving it at that. She smirked. And then winked.

Steve shifted and smiled uncomfortably. _Damn_.

Just then, Chin decided he was due some food and a beer and sloshed out of the water towards them. "Your turn Cuz," he said gesturing to Kono, then almost manhandling her out of her seat on the bench, took her place. The younger cousin, unable to hold in her soft giggle had no choice but to move off to the side to take off her clothes. Putting on his aviators, Steve's eyes inadvertently followed her movements as she whipped off her tank top and shimmied out of her jeans shorts. Her yellow bikini showcased everything beautiful about her lean body and Steve found himself swallowing and consciously working to hide any further reaction that would give his ogling away. Especially with Chin seated next to him.

Steve chided himself. He was a man. He'd been with a fair amount of women and considered himself capable enough to handle the fairer sex on all points. Screaming hysterically, vengeful, sobbing uncontrollably, scorned, angered, deliriously happy, sultry, seducing, he could handle all that. And yet, watching Kono undress for the beach had... _undone_ him.

In their first meeting, watching her running up to them, wet and glistening, emerging from the ocean like _Hinaikawai_ herself, he'd been able to remain professional because he barely knew her. He appreciated her features of course, _he wasn't blind._ He of course couldn't help but acknowledge how beautiful she was, but that was it. They had a job to do then.

But today... after all these months and moments between them, for some reason... he'd found that he'd lost his way... in her.

Feeling Chin's eyes on him, Steve cleared his throat. "You're going to kill me aren't you?"

"Oldest trick in the book is the veiled 'checking-out' behind the sunglasses, Steve," Chin said. He unwrapped a spam musubi and took a big bite. "But no, I'm not going to kill you," he said around a mouth of food.

Steve turned to look at Chin questioningly, something about what he just said, did not seem so final.

"I am however, going to beat the shit out of you," the older man said seriously. "I know you would have honorable intentions brah, but are you sure that's even a good idea?"

_Ah, crap. _"You're kinda pissed." Steve stated. He smirked and shook his head. "I don't blame you, Chin."

"Yeah well, wouldn't you be pissed too?" Chin asked. "If say, Danny, was suddenly checking-out Mary Ann, you wouldn't want to kick his ass?"

"No, because I know she can handle herself," Steve answered quickly. _Plus, I'm pretty sure Danny's still in love with Rachel... _He gave Chin a look.

"Easier said, than believed," Chin said, an air of experience in his statement. "Trust me, I said the same thing about Kono... in reference to you." He punctuated the last part with a pointed finger.

"Wait, what?" Steve asked, bewildered as he watched Chin finish off the last of his musubi.

Grabbing a beer, Chin turned back to Steve. "I'm not blind brah... and she's family remember?"

The sudden squealing had both men stopping dead in their tracks of their conversation. Looking once again towards the clear blue of the Pacific, they saw Grace bouncing around in the water as Danny and Kono chased her around with playful splashes and tickling. "That's it," they heard Danny say. He picked up Grace and tucked her under his arm like a bag of laundry and made his way towards the table. "This monkey needs some feeding," he said, plopping Grace down. He removed her inner tube and life vest, tickling her along the way. She continued to laugh uproariously, they had never seen the little girl so happy. If it weren't for her having so much fun, someone would have dared mention that Danny was actually enjoying himself at the beach too.

Chin softened at he little girl's antics. As Steve stood to remove his glasses and shirt, with the intention of joining Kono in the water, Chin gave him a look that meant their previous conversation was not over. Steve nodded back and headed off to join Kono, but not before gently tugging on Grace's pigtail to flash her a smile.

She grinned up at him, "Kono's 'it,' Steve! You have to tag her!"

"Okay, I'll do my best, Grace," he said mock seriously, unable to hide a smile.

Danny's little girl turned back to the ocean and yelled, "watch out Kono, Steve's gonna get you!" She giggled as she watched Steve run towards the sea and towards Kono, who by then had expertly dove into the water and was swimming away.

Danny started fixing a plate for Grace and looked at Chin questioningly. They turned their gaze towards the water and noticed that Steve had caught up to Kono and they continued to swim side by side. He handed the plate to his daughter as she scooted onto the bench.

Covering Grace's ears while she ate, Danny asked Chin, "you uh, you guys alright? That seemed like a pretty intense conversation you guys were having."

Chin looked down at Grace who continued to ignore her father's hands over her ears and then back at Danny. "How could you tell?"

"Seriously?" he smiled. "If there's anybody who can read body language... _his _body language, it's me. He's easy, whatever you said to him, I don't think he liked it very much," supplied Danny.

Chin smirked. "Yeah well, something tells me that it wasn't what I had to say that he didn't like. More like I pointed out the obvious and he didn't want to acknowledge it."

"Which is?" asked Danny, looking down to Grace and then back at Chin. He stopped holding his hands over her ears and held up a finger to Chin, wordlessly asking him to wait.

Turning back down to Grace, he said, "Monkey, how about a snow-cone from Kamekona? Why don't you go and get one, okay?" She nodded emphatically.

The two men watched the little girl run off and both smiled as Kamekona greeted her warmly. "What? He's attracted to her?" Danny questioned, picking up where they left off. He turned to Chin, "he didn't think we saw that? How could you not?" Danny gestured and shrugged his shoulders simultaneously.

Chin snorted. "I think that he's more at a loss for what to do, because he's surprised at himself for suddenly feeling a certain way... about her."

"Well tough," pointed out Danny. "So he was blind-sided, big deal," he said gesturing again. "_Joe Schmoe_ would fall for a woman like Kono," he sighed as he watched his daughter nod at a question Kamekona asked her. "We don't get to choose, do we?" The blond detective said, sounding bittersweet. Chin could tell by the look in Danny's eyes that he was most likely thinking of Rachel.

Unable to help himself too, Chin's thoughts drifted to his own ex, Malia and he nodded back absently in answer to Danny's question.

"You uh, gonna have another word with him then?" Danny asked softly.

"What would I say? 'Don't go there, brah?' I might be too late," Chin said.

They looked to the ocean once more and saw Steve and Kono making their way out of the water. She was laughing at something he said. Steve appeared to be smiling at the response he got from her and both men on the shore could see the change in Steve when he was around Kono in a non-professional setting. It didn't happen often, but when it did, he looked different, completely relaxed and... _happy_.

Danny turned to Chin and arched a brow and the older man just shook his head and snorted softly. Looking down at the sand, Danny chuckled. "Yeah, you might be right about that."

End.

# # #

A/N: To cross that line or to leave them tortured? Eventually, something's gotta give.

Mini Glossary :

_manapua – steamed pork bun, also called 'bao'  
musubi – rice with spam wrapped in seaweed, like a sushi, can come with other proteins as well, like: egg, teriyaki chicken, portuguese sausage  
malasadas – portuguese fried donuts, sometimes stuffed with flavored creams, rolled in granulated sugar  
haupia – coconut "jello," not usually made with gelatin but cornstarch  
keiki – child  
mahalo – thank you  
kokua - help  
Hinaikawai – woman of the water. Younger sister of Hinaikeahi, woman of the fire. In Hawaiian folktale (short version), Hinaikeahi brought food to her people when they suffered from famine, by filling an imu (underground oven) with food. Her sister, Hinaikawai became jealous and tried doing the same but she failed because she didn't use the powers of water that were given to her. (_Not really an adequate Hawaiian being to equate to Kono I know, but I wanted somehow to link her to the mythology and to water.)


	6. Six

On Love and Other Things

Summary: Kono's put into a situation that causes Steve to deal with his feelings towards her.  
Disclaimer: I do not own H50.

My lovelies, thank you dear readers, reviewers/commenters and fellow KoVe writers, your constant inspiration, support and encouragement keep me going. Thank you so, so much for reading. Now, on with the torture!

Six.

# # #

Aiea, Oahu  
Present

_Great. Another roof_. Danny sighed.

The last time they were on a roof together, Steve dangled the suspect over the edge in order to get him to confess to who had hired him to abduct Lowry, the former Security Agent for the NSA.

Now, they were chasing a young, burly, Hawaiian kid named Keoki Olama across their current rooftop. They were hoping to get him to confess to who had hired him to deliver the large cache of H&K 417 guns HPD had discovered in his car. Their chase led them here, to the top of another building in another warehouse district.

At the other end of the rooftop, an access door swung open and Chin stepped out with his gun drawn yelling for Keoki, who was running straight for him, to stop. But as Kono stepped out after Chin, Keoki grabbed her, knocking her gun to the ground.

"Back off brah!" Keoki yelled as shoved his gun into Kono's side. His other arm was around her neck, tight, grabbing at her roughly.

Steve and Danny caught up to them and the three men stood momentarily frozen. "Let her go," Steve gritted out.

Keoki moved backwards, towards the edge of the roof. He grunted. "An den what?" he asked arrogantly. "Or bettah yet, mebbe I just take her off the roof wit me?"

"Brah, stop," Chin said, trying to hide the concern in his voice, his eyes darting to the ledge that they were near. He and Steve and Danny had moved closer to Keoki only to have him back-up even more. Now he was just inches from the edge of the roof. His gun still aimed at Kono's side, jabbing at her under the hem of her vest.

She looked from Chin, to Danny and then finally Steve. _Shit_. "Guys?" she asked, as her footing balanced dangerously on the loose graveled edge.

Chin knew what she was thinking, glancing at Steve and Danny he shook his head slightly. Danny, gestured 'what?' then as her plan dawned on him, he adamantly shook his head in response. Steve's eyes widened, "Kono," he said. "We've got this," he warned.

Keoki may have looked dumb, but there was no way that he missed the exchange among the team-members and he was quickly losing patience. "Eh! Five-O, you let me go, I let her go," he ordered.

"C'mon Keoki, you know that it ain't gonna happen," Steve said coolly. He motioned to himself and the guys, all three of them had their guns pointed at the kid. "You let Officer Kalakaua go, and we won't kill you," he said taking a small step forward. He noted that Danny and Chin had done the same.

The large Hawaiian laughed menacingly. "Drop your guns and mebbe I'll consider it," he said jostling Kono and shoving the gun deeper into her side. He glared at all three of them. "Cop or not, I not scared of killing her, okay? I not scared of dying either."

Glancing at Chin and Danny, Steve swallowed before speaking, "either way then, we'll still, shoot you though."

"Okay den, mebbe you won't mind den," Keoki said airily.

"Mind?" questioned Steve.

Keoki sneered. "If I do dis! Arggh!" At that moment Kono elbowed him, grabbed his arm and bit down hard.

He shoved her off the roof.

"No!" "Kono!" "No, no, no!"

In the eruption of gunfire, the men couldn't be sure if they even heard Kono scream.

# # #

Liholiho Fighting Gym  
Honolulu, Oahu  
Two days before

Steve rubbed and worked his shoulder as he watched Kono talk to the gym director. He stretched his neck and resisted the urge to run a hand over it to work out the kinks because he noticed Chin eyeing him with an amused expression.

He didn't take a beating, admittedly the macho side of him wanted to believe that he went a little easy on Kono. But truthfully, that wasn't the case.

Kono really, really, could hold her own.

So in actuality, not only was she a pro-surfer turned cop, but she was an intelligent, strong minded, young, woman who knew how to fight and handle herself. She was a complete badass... an extremely attractive, no... hot... badass. Steve shook his head slightly to redirect his thoughts into taking a different route.

He thought back to their sparring earlier. Kono was landing and blocking blows that she almost seemed to anticipate at lightning speed. Her lanky, but muscular frame carried more strength than appeared and when she swept his legs out from under him that last time, he struggled to not turn his inadvertent grunt into a groan.

He smirked at Chin.

"Where'd your cousin learn to take care of herself Chin? Academy?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Chin snorted back. "Nah, brah. Seriously, she was always getting into all kinds of trouble when she was still small. Starting fights in first and second grade!" The older man shook his head. "You couldn't calm her down unless you threw her in the water and then when she found the board and started to surf, it was almost as if she was born for it."

Sitting on a side bench of the gym, Chin chuckled some at Steve's appearance, he was sweaty and his hair was a bit disheveled. He looked not completely ragged, but a little worse for wear. He handed him a small towel. "The idea of a pro-surfing career was a way to keep her out of trouble," Chin explained.

Steve nodded in understanding before scrubbing his face with the towel.

Then Chin's eye's crinkled. "Especially, because as soon as she was old enough, she would head out to Kahe Point to practice her surfing," he added.

"Ooh, rough side of the island," Steve said, looking in amazement from Kono to Chin.

Chuckling again, "you talking about the water or the people?" asked Chin.

"Both, I guess," Steve said, laughing now. "All the way on the west-side?" He shook his head. "I don't even go there if I can help it."

"Yeah, now you know where she learned to hone her fighting skills," Chin replied with a heartfelt smile. "What you saw, with that guy that dropped in on her wave on that first day I introduced you guys? That was nothing, brah," he said, pride about his cousin's behavior evident. "Lucky she went pro, though. Could have turned out differently for the kid," he added with a semi-serious nod.

Steve looked over to Kono again and openly admired her in front of her cousin. He turned to Chin and was surprised to see that the older man was now looking at him approvingly. He smiled a little. "Yeah." Leaning back, he rested his now aching back against the wall. "I have to say Chin, I'm constantly impressed." He was being completely honest and his sore muscles were not going to let him forget it anytime soon.

"Me too," Chin said, a faint smile on his lips. He looked at Steve seriously then. "Except... maybe I'm just being over protective, but, sometimes I worry."

Steve stretched his neck before turning his full frame to face his father's former partner. His eyes mirrored Chin's seriousness. "Don't be. She's got us, remember? All of us, Danny included," promised Steve.

Chin nodded, as if accepting and appreciating how much Steve had come to care for his cousin. He'd guessed that in the end, there would be no one better to do the job. But then he snorted loudly. "Yeah, but sometimes I think maybe she thinks she doesn't need us."

Steve turned to observe the subject of their talk. Kono was now headed their way, a triumphant smile on her face. "We all need somebody Chin," Steve said.

Chin snorted softly. "I agree, which is why I'm headed out of here for coffee with Malia," he said as he got up and gave Kono a high-five.

"Cuz?" Kono asked. "Leaving so soon? Don't you want a chance to get your ass kicked too?" she smirked, her eyes crinkling.

Her cousin shook his head and chuckled. "Nah, Cuz, I'm good," he said as he walked past and playfully punched her in the arm. "Eh, Steve, I'd advise against a round two, this girl's got some skills," he said as he flashed him a smile and a wink.

Steve chuckled in return as he watched Chin go. "You don't have to tell me twice," he said after him. He smiled fully at Kono.

"I told you I would kick your ass," she said, arching a brow, her arms now crossing in front of her.

"Yeah. But, would you believe me if I said that I went easy on you?" he asked smirking.

Kono smiled ruefully and extended a hand towards him. "You didn't though." Steve took her hand and she pulled him up to stand before her. Dropping his hand, she gently nudged him in the chest, "thanks, Boss."

Steve allowed himself to take a good, long look at her, honestly enjoying the beauty of her. Standing less than a few feet away, neither moved from each other's personal space that they shared. Kono met Steve's gaze and smiled a brilliant, dimpled smile. "You're welcome, Kono," he said, matching her smile with one of his own.

# # #

Aiea, Oahu  
Present

In the volley of gunfire that followed, only one man lay dead on the rooftop. Keoki Olama.

Kono on the other hand, had been thrown off of the roof. All three men shook off with paralyzingly sobriety the thought that one of their partners had fallen to her death.

Moving slowly as if suspended in molasses, Danny looked down at the gun runner's body, his gun hand limp at his side. Steve stood rooted to his spot, a few feet away from Danny. Chin somehow made his way to the edge of the roof, where Kono was thrown off. They watched as he looked over the ledge, then as he kneeled and started shaking in what Steve and Danny could only assume was sobbing... except, it now sounded like... laughing?

Steve and Danny shared a concerned but confused look.

"What's so funny Cuz? A little help, please?"

At Kono's disembodied voice, Steve and Danny rushed to where Chin was and peered over the ledge too.

Kono stood on the roof of a side addition to the warehouse approximately one story down. Looking up to her partners and rubbing the side of her head, she said, "a little help please?"

Steve jumped into action immediately, motioning for the other men to hold on to him as he reached down to pull Kono up onto the roof again.

When he finally pulled her up to join them, Danny rushed off to alert the EMTs. Steve's hands held onto Kono's upper arms, holding onto her firm but not tight. He looked at her completely, as if burning her image into his mind. Letting his eyes flicker over her face he noticed the blood around her mouth and reaching a hand up, he brushed a thumb gently across her lips. He felt Kono's intake of breath.

She's alive.

He knew the blood was most likely Keoki's, but that didn't stop him. Steve wanted to shake her and tell her that under no condition, was she allowed ever, _ever_, to get hurt, get kidnapped, disappear, or worse, die. _Fuck_. And as he continued to hold her, he just looked at her, as if he was silently telling her all those thoughts before it finally registered to him that she said she was fine.

Then almost as if waking from a dream, Steve stepped away quickly, eventually allowing her cousin to give her a brief hug as the EMTs rushed in.

Finally registering that his phone was ringing, he walked a few feet away. "McGarrett," he answered.

# # #

Five-0 HQ  
Honolulu, Oahu  
2 hours later

Steve walked directly into his office and sat down heavily, turning his chair to face the window. He was so lost in his thoughts that he failed to notice that Danny was right on his heels and that the blonde detective took seat on the corner of his desk.

"What the hell was that, huh?" Danny asked, purposefully trying to keep the aggression out of his voice. It was already an extremely tense day, he didn't need to get into an argument with Steve. Especially not with the way he'd been acting around Kono lately.

Steve whirled around and looked at Danny in momentary surprise. "What?"

"You haven't said a word to Kono since we've gotten back here. You need to say something, alright?" he said with a trademark gesture.

Steve sighed and ran a hand across his face. "I thought she was dead, Danny."

"Hey, genius, I got news for you. _We all thought she was dead_, okay?" Danny sighed. "You weren't alone, Steve. The thought of it happening to her, hurt all of us."

Steve shook his head. "I don't know what to say though," he said, his blue eyes full of confusion and pain.

"How about you start with, 'hey Kono, I'm glad you're not dead'," Danny offered. "It's simple, but it's a start," he said as he stood and crossed his arms across his chest. "You need to talk to her, Steven. She's beginning to think you're pissed at her or something," he added.

Steve snorted to himself. In truth he was. A little. Her boldness almost cost her, her life.

"Wait a minute, are you?" Danny asked, jutting out a hand. At Steve's silence, he had no choice but accept his silence as a 'yes'. He used the same hand to pinch his bottom lip together. "How, Steven? How, do you even go there?" Standing suddenly, Danny started pacing with his hands on hips. "Wait, I got it. You're pissed about how she just fearlessly and... oh, I don't know... brazenly tried to take charge of the situation with Keoki on her own. I wonder where she would have gotten an idea to do something like that, Steve?" he asked sarcastically.

Steve rolled his eyes and stood up. He mirrored Danny's posture. "Look, I would never encourage anyone to handle those types of situations like I do. You know my SEAL training put me into all types of instances that required me to handle them in particular ways."

"_Particular ways_? Particular ways? What is that exactly, Steve? Shoot first, ask later?" Danny asked.

Shaking his head, Steve sighed, then said, "Danno... what do you want me say?" His eyes were clearly remorseful.

Danny pursed his lips and gestured, "look, I'm sorry. It's been an long, emotional day, alright? I just wanna... go pick-up Grace and hug the shit out of her right now."

Snorting softly, Steve waved a hand at Danny. "Fine, go," he said. "Tell Kono to come see me on your way out."

Danny nodded and walked away. A few minutes later, as Steve was looking out his window, there was a soft, tentative knock on his door. He took a deep breath and motioned Kono in.

"Boss, before you say anything, I took a stupid risk, up there," she said as she came to stand before his desk. "I really shouldn't have chanced it like that." Kono averted her gaze and stared at an apparently really interesting spot of dust at the edge of Steve's desk.

Steve watched her and felt his chest tighten.

He'd almost lost her.

"You know, Danny said that you think I'm pissed at you because of the risks you took." She nodded slowly, meeting his gaze. "And I am." He was taken aback at how her eyes became instantly sad. "Kono... all those months ago, when we held your own personal graduation ceremony, right outside my office doors, we said we would do everything we could to protect you."

Kono sighed heavily, "I know Boss, I'm sorry."

"No Kono, you don't understand. I got a call from Agent Kaye after we pulled you up, back onto the roof. Keoki Olama was a small time gun runner for none other than Wo Fat," he said as he moved sit on the edge of his desk so that he was next to her now.

As the realization hit Kono, she felt instantly worse. She shook her head and closed her eyes briefly, "Shit."

"If anything happened to you Kono, directly or indirectly because of Wo Fat... it would mean that a fourth member of my family, someone that I lo – cared about, was a taken from me all together, or was attempted to be taken from me. I... can't... " Steve stopped talking as he felt Kono's little hand cover his as it rested on the desk next to him. He stared at her.

"Steve, I'll be careful. But I can't and won't promise I won't get hurt. And I won't promise that I may end up making snap decisions that could either be very bad or good, I won't live like that. I'm not that kind of cop, you know that already. I'm hard headed like you are," she said, watching him carefully.

Steve nodded, a faint smile on his lips. He turned his hand over so that he could take her hand in his. It was a complete contradiction to her. Her hand was small and felt fragile, but the woman before him seemed stronger and tougher than him at the moment.

"I can promise however, that I'll try my hardest to not put myself in those situations," she said as she squeezed his hand. Smirking, Kono shook her head. "If that's any consolation?" she asked, ducking her head slightly.

"It is. Thank you," he said as he exhaled. "Look, I know you can handle yourself Kono. No one knows it more than I do... I just... never expected to care so much. About someone..." Steve swallowed as he looked up into her eyes, "about... you."

Kono's eyes widened slightly and she stepped away, pulling her hand out of his grasp. She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut breifly.

"Kono," Steve started. "You have to know -"

"Stop," she said cutting him off. Shaking her head slightly, "not... now. Not yet," she said taking another deep breath as she looked at him.

Steve stood, he was at a loss. "I'm sorry, Kono. Forget, it."

Now, he really was kinda pissed. At himself.

Kono put her hands out in front of her. "It's cool... Boss," she said the last part purposefully. "It's no big deal right?" She reached up and rubbed her temple lightly. "I should uhm, go. I am after all, concussed," she said as she pointed to her head. "Headache," she added, sheepishly.

"Right," replied Steve, a little too quickly. "Chin's gonna check on you, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. No worries Boss, I'm good." Kono turned to walk out. "We're okay, Boss?" she asked as she grabbed the door handle.

Steve hadn't moved, he nodded. "Yeah, we're okay," he said, attempting to hide the disappointment in his voice.

Kono stopped suddenly and turned to Steve. "I'm not going to 'forget it,' okay Steve?"

He watched the smile that spread across her face and the dimples that came along with it and smiled in return. "Okay," he said as he watched her leave.

End.

# # #

A/N: My deepest apologies for taking so long to update, RL as it seems, is quite busy right now. And I regret to inform you all that I will be traveling for the next 3 weeks, so, I'm not sure how or when additional chapters will be up. In any case, I hope to resolve soon after my return, for Steve and Kono's sakes. Oh and of course for all of the KoVe fans out there. Three hours till I board a plane for London! Woot!

P.S. (UPDATED) This version is reformatted and corrected for any mistakes I may have inadvertently included before my vacation.


	7. Seven

On Love and Other Things

Summary: Kono meets Agent Jenna Kaye.  
Disclaimer: I do not own H50.

Thank you all for your patience while I was on vacation. I cannot thank you all enough for reading/reviewing/commenting and inspiring.

Seven.

# # #

Five-0 Headquarters  
Honolulu, HI

"Oh, hello. Agent Kaye, is it?" asked Kono as she regarded the young woman with the pixie haircut in the break-room.

"Right, you're Officer Kalakaua, correct?" Agent Kaye asked.

Kono smiled. "Please, call me Kono," she said back warmly. Having heard from Steve about Agent Kaye's insights into who Wo Fat was, Kono was glad to finally get to meet the CIA agent.

Agent Kaye smiled in return and said, "Jenna, please."

With a nod, Kono smiled again and went about getting a cup of coffee for herself.

"I hear you almost died the other day," Agent Kaye said softly.

Most people would be put off by the young CIA analysts' bluntness, but Kono for some reason found it refreshing. She snorted and smirked slightly before responding. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Though technically, I really just fell from the roof of one building onto another."

"Oh, _just,_" giggled Agent Kaye lightly. "They were right about you," she said smiling.

Kono gulped her coffee. "They who?" she asked, quirking a brow. "And what did they say?"

"Steve and Danny mentioned to me how tough you were," Agent Kaye explained.

"Really?" Kono scrunched up her face. "_Tough_? That was the adjective they used to describe me?"

"Uhm, yeah. Why? I thought that was a good thing," pointed out Agent Kaye.

Kono tilted her head as if considering something. With a slight nod, she continued, "I guess yeah, it is a good thing. At one point though, it felt as if I was always trying to prove myself to them," she added with a soft chuckle. "Then again, I'm pretty sure I was just trying to prove it to_ myself_."

Agent Kaye, tilted her head. "I guess we're hardest on ourselves. Then again, I kinda got the impression from Danny that he always thought that way about you," she added.

Kono chuckled. "I think I may scare Danny sometimes."

Jenna laughed. "But, Steve on the other hand, seems more guarded about revealing things about you... " Kono's eyes widened slightly and though Agent Kaye was never in the field, she noticed Kono's change of expression immediately. "...guys... his team really," she continued, eyeing Kono curiously.

Kono quickly composed herself. "Hmm, yeah, he's pretty stoic at times," she said as she took another sip of her coffee.

Agent Kaye pulled a mug down from the cabinet and poured herself a cup too. Feeling suddenly self conscious she said, "I'm sorry Kono. Obviously it appears that I've been prying into the team's dynamic. I apologize, I'm just curious really. I'm sure Steve's told you all about how I impersonated a field agent in order to try and get a hold of his father's files," she said sheepishly.

"Actually, it's okay," Kono said, feeling sorry for Agent Kaye's awkwardness. "One thing about Steve, is that he doesn't dwell much on anyone's shortcomings. He's really good at seeing what you're good at and utilizing your skill set to the team's best interests."

Agent Kaye looked relieved.

"It's always water under the bridge with him, he doesn't seem to ever hold grudges. Unless of course, you're Wo Fat." Kono gave her a slight smirk. "But, then again, if you're wrong, he'll definitely let you know about it."

"Oh," Agent Kaye said softly.

Kono shook her head in mild dismay as she watched the younger woman. "Now, _that's_ a good thing," she reminded.

"Right, right, of course," Jenna half halfheartedly agreed.

"Anyway, it was good to finally meet you, Jenna," Kono said as she made a move to go.

Agent Kaye nodded and smiled, then as if remembering something, she asked, "Kono? How did you do it?" At Kono's questioning look, she clarified. "How did you get them to start to taking you seriously? I mean after my fiancé was killed along with his team, instead of keeping me on the case to assist because I knew the most about Wo Fat, they took me off of it. I mean regardless of his death, I feel confident that I could, _can _maintain objectivity."

Kono shook her head. "There is no way," she stated knowingly. "Let me ask you this, what exactly are you doing _now_? I mean why are you here in Hawaii, studying Steve's files? You're not being objective at all. Especially because you even tried confiscating them first."

Agent Kaye shook her head sadly, like a chastised child. "I know, I'm sorry." She snorted. "I've got the bill for the door repair from the hotel just yesterday," she said referencing the incident where Steve kicked in her door.

"That's maybe the least of your issues right now," pointed out Kono. "Do you think you can handle what will happen when we finally encounter Wo Fat?"

"Yes, I'm sure of it," she said it with such conviction.

Kono looked doubtful. _She had no idea_.

"I know you don't believe me, you don't have to," Agent Kaye said. "But like you, I'm sure I'll be able to prove my worth."

Kono smiled tightly and nodded, realizing that Agent Kaye was resolved to finding Wo Fat to hold him accountable for what had happened to her fiancé and colleagues. She wondered briefly if Agent Kaye was remotely capable of actually dealing with Wo Fat when the time came.

Tilting her mug towards the younger woman, they exchanged another smile before Kono turned to return to her office. But at the sound of two men arguing in the foyer of the Five-0 offices, both women exited the break-room to find an extremely animated Danny and a slightly bruised in the face Steve.

"What happened?" Kono asked walking up to the two men. Agent Kaye hung back, seemingly interested in the show that was about to take place.

"I told you, I told you didn't I, Steven? I told you that punk was going to sucker punch you. You're off your game babe," Danny said, almost gloating.

"Eh Danny, shut up okay?" Steve grunted, tweaking his face at the pain he was starting to become evident.

Kono threw her hands up. "What? Are you okay, Boss?"

"I'm good, alright?" Steve answered, his pride seeming a little wounded. "We ran into Kawika, he was having a bit of a _problem _with some disrespectful punks down by the beach and we decided to step in and give a helping hand," Steve explained with a smirk.

"Yeah, only Super SEAL here, almost got mobbed," added Danny. "I'd never seen anything like it, it was like a match for the UFC, except the was no cage," he chuckled, shaking his head. Danny shoved his hands into his pocket and looked at Steve. "You got it mostly in the face though," he said, jutting his chin out.

"I'm good, alright," Steve clarified, giving Danny his aneurysm face.

"Last time we take the scenic route to work, okay babe?" Danny couldn't help chuckling at Steve's expression. "Alright, I'm gonna go help Chin sort things out at HPD, I'll be back," he said as he walked back out the door, but not before giving a nod to Agent Kaye, who he noticed lurking in the background.

Steve continued forward and walked into his office as Kono made an about-face to go back into the break-room.

When Kono came to his office a few minutes later she was surprised to find Agent Kaye in there. She was standing just a few feet way from him, reaching up to his face as if to trace the outline of the swelling that was about to take place on his left cheekbone. Steve's eyes were on Agent Kaye but something caused him to look up. And when he did, he saw Kono's retreating back. He quickly stepped around Agent Kaye and exited his office.

"Hey, Kono," he said, hoping to get her to stop. "What's up?" he asked.

Kono sighed and turned slowly, holding up an ice-pack. Shifting her weight from foot to foot, she said, "uh, I was going to offer this, but looks like you may have other ideas for reducing the swelling?" she asked, arching a brow.

Steve stepped forward, closing the distance between them. He grabbed the ice-pack from her hand, but held on to the hand that was holding it. "Thank you," he said, his voice deepening. He was relieved that she didn't pull her hand away, just bringing it down so that their locked hands hung in between them.

Kono looked at his face then, allowing her gaze to take in all the swelling and bruising about to come. She stepped closer, shaking her head slightly, she said, "why'd you let those punks get that hit in? You're lucky it didn't turn into a cut or worse."

Steve shrugged and then his eyes softened a bit as he stared at her. "If it did, would you help me take care of it then?" he asked.

Kono withdrew her hand, letting him take the ice-pack and crossed her arms in front of her. Rolling her eyes playfully, she said, "please, seems like you have a volunteer ready and waiting for that job." She smirked, reigning in her jealousy.

His blue eyes twinkled. "Nah, I kind of already have the perfect person in mind for the job," he said, wanting to reassure her of his intentions towards her.

Kono's eyes met his. "Boss," she said, shaking her head.

"What?" he said, looking into her deep brown pools.

"Don't," she said simply.

"Why? Because I was hallucinating when I saw how worried you looked when you first saw me? Tell me I was wrong Kono," he said, almost daring her.

She continued to stare back at him, at a loss for words.

"Kono, tell me I was wrong," he said again, this time bringing the ice-pack to rest on his sore cheekbone. He never moved out of her personal space.

Kono chewed on her bottom lip lightly as she finally looked away from his intense gaze. "No."

"No, what?" Steve asked, quirking a brow.

"You weren't wrong," she said stepping back. "You looked bad, and I was worried at first, but I'm glad it's something you can take care of _yourself_," she explained as she watched him, purposefully stressing the last part.

He got the hint and he was a bit disappointed. She needed to back off for some reason. "Thanks for the ice, Kono."

She winked flirtatiously and gave him the smile that he loved. He couldn't help but turn his oncoming smirk into a full blown smile of his own. Shaking his head, he turned back to his office where Agent Kaye was already seated in one of his chairs.

Kono turned back to her office, hands in her pocket, smiling to herself as she went.

# # #

"You lucky sonuvabitch," Danny greeted Steve as he walked into his office. "Tell me," he said, his hands out in front of him. "Tell me, Kaye and Kono weren't all over you after I left you this morning?" Danny asked as he plopped down onto one of Steve's chairs.

Steve smirked and rolled his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about, Danny," he answered as he crossed his arms across his chest, leaning back in his chair.

Danny tilted his head back in disbelief, studying Steve's face. Gesturing to his own, he said, "you uh, telling me you didn't get some sympathy from the girls for that lovely bruise over your cheek?"

Steve pursed his lips slightly. "I got some," he said with a sly smirk.

"Come on, gees. Oh, you can't say it like that, for crying out loud!" Danny started ranting.

He started laughing. "Danny, you asked," Steve said, shaking his head. He paused, enjoying how put out Danny seemed to be getting. "Okay, I got a little bit of sympathy."

"So... from Kono?" Danny asked with a slight smile.

Steve's eyes lit up and he smiled in response.

Danny shook his head, chuckling softly. "And, Kaye?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Whattya mean it doesn't matter? Listen to me, you may be the 'Devourer of Dreams' and all," he said jutting a hand out towards Steve. "But I'd still like to know if that uh, new facial decoration got some kind of reaction from her," Danny said. "She's CIA for crissakes, about as near to accountants as you can get, but still... I'm curious..."

"What matters is, I got a reaction from the one that counted," Steve said.

Danny tilted his head back again."Huh, good for you," he said, realizing that he wasn't going to get anymore from Steve. He blew out a breath and rubbed a hand over his mouth.

"Besides," Steve began, "she's like twelve or something." He said, referencing Agent Kaye's youthful appearance and behavior.

"Twelve? Twelve. What, they're accepting tweens in to the CIA now?" the blonde detective asked rhetorically, chuckling.

End.

# # #

A/N: So, this may not have been worth the wait, I fear this may be more of the same slow burn. I'm a sucker for that. No worries though, be confident fellow KoVe fans, these two will end up together. In my world anyway.


	8. Eight

On Love and Other Things

Summary: The cousins have a talk about mistakes and Kono and Steve get closer.  
Disclaimer: I do not own H50.

Thank you everyone for reading, reviewing, commenting and inspiring. Oh, and thank you all especially for your patience, which is so very much appreciated.

Eight.

# # #

Makiki, Honolulu  
Oahu

Kono woke up to the acrid smell of burning toast.

Her head popped up over the backrest of her fold-out sofa to spy her cousin, Chin, shaking her toaster violently.

She groaned and he looked over at her.

"What. The. Hell. Cuz?" she asked groggily, forcing herself to focus on the man currently dwarfing her kitchenette even more. Unfortunately, it was just technically a wall with a few cupboards, a counter, a burner, a microwave and a mini fridge. But somehow, she managed to make it work.

Chin stood there comically wrestling a slice of what looked like bread at one point, from her toaster. It was now completely charred black. "What? Sorry, Cuz, but why did it burn? I just pushed the lever down a few seconds ago," he said confused.

Kono grunted and untwisted herself from her blankets to pad over to him. She didn't have to go far, it took only a few steps in her tiny apartment. "It's uh, still plugged in," she said sleepily. "You might wanna... yeah, unplug it," she advised, pointing her finger towards the outlet.

Chin looked at her and smirked. He dropped the toaster back onto the counter and pulled the plug and watched as Kono leaned onto the counter to rest her head against a cupboard door.

"It's a nuclear toaster. One second is even too long," she said as she yawned, sounding too tired to be annoyed. "Cheapo Cousin Dwight gave me that, shoulda known. 'King Street Discount Electronics,' my ass."

Shaking his head, Chin chuckled lightly and took in the fact that she was still wearing her street clothes instead of her pajamas. He quirked a brow and also noticed the empty red wine bottle and wine glass in her sink. "Kono," he started, "I thought I'd find you out surfing already, but it looks like you had a rough night?"

The younger cousin yawned again and straightened. "Why are you here, Chin?" she grunted, avoiding his question.

"Toast," he answered simply, gesturing to the charcoal colored square on his plate.

Kono reached around him a propped a window open, allowing fresh air in. She glared at him. "Why, Chin?"

He shrugged. "I thought I'd find you out at Lanikai Beach, surfing and when I didn't, I came here. I was hoping you'd come get coffee." He shook his head as he glanced towards her toaster, "but, well, I guess we could get _breakfast_ now."

Kono studied Chin. It was a Sunday. They were off. Yes, they were family. But... sometimes, it wasn't necessary to see family so much. At least not as much as they'd seen each other recently. "Breakfast?"

Chin looked back at Kono and nodded. "With Malia too," he added, trying to be nonchalant.

Kono rolled her eyes then, wetting her lips a little before tilting her head towards him. "Malia? Ah... I get it."

Her cousin quirked another brow and snorted. "What?"

"It ain't going to happen, brah. No matter how hard you try, I don't like her. Anymore." She shook her head. "She abandoned you when you needed her," Kono reminded. She had yet to forgive Malia for what she had done to him.

Chin sighed heavily. "It's past Kono. Look, she's open to having breakfast with me since I've actually built up the courage to ask her. We had coffee, just the other week and it went well."

"Coffee?" Kono asked. She looked skeptical but couldn't help but acknowledge the hopeful look she saw in her older cousin's eyes.

"Plus, you don't know everything that went on back then, I wasn't fair to her," he added sadly. He met Kono's gaze and asked, "please?"

"Why should I, Cuz?" Kono asked, appearing to be relenting.

"Because," Chin started to explain. He took a deep breath. "Because, _I_ left her. It was my choice, not hers."

"You?" Kono asked, not bothering to hide her confusion. "Wait, all this time, the family thought _she_ left you."

"Yeah," he answered softly.

Kono huffed and crossed her arms across her front. "Let me get his straight... it was _all you_? You ended your engagement, not her?"

He nodded solemnly.

"What kind of bullshit, noble, hero crap were you pulling, Cuz?" Kono's temper was starting to flare.

"Excuse me?" Chin asked back, not liking the direction Kono's tone was heading.

"I get it, it's our culture. We can't help it, we don't think selfishly. We think of the big picture, _always_, and it's impact on everyone where ohana is concerned. But seriously? Chin, fo' real? You didn't have to suffer on your own when you left HPD. She would have stuck by you like I did, even if the rest of the family didn't." She was trying desperately to not appear angry, but she found herself heading there fast. "I can't believe this whole time I thought she broke it off with _you_. Why do I feel like, I should have known better?" Kono snorted softly and shook her head. "How could you, Cuz?"

"I know Kono, I know. Believe me, I've been trying to atone ever since we asked for her help in identifying Duncan's head," Chin said sadly, shaking his head in frustration. "Which is why I wanted you to join us. I did what I did because I was just trying to protect her," he continued, trying to explain.

"And you figured, what? I would come to breakfast with you two and there would be no tension? Everything would just get fixed?" Kono asked. "Last time I ran into her, I wasn't nice at all," she said. "How is that going to help?"

"I just," Chin started, "I want to mend things Cuz. Not with just me and her, but you two too. She really liked you, you know? She still asks about you."

Kono bit her lip and rolled her eyes. "I don't know, Cuz," she said sighing. "But, I know it would be the right thing to do."

Chin nodded. "_But_..."

"_But_, I can't do that. Not right now. It's just too much to absorb, and... I can't believe you kept that from me," Kono said. "I have to get over my embarrassment."

"I'm sorry, Cuz. I hope you know just how much I really am," Chin said softly, looking at her.

Kono held his gaze and nodded. She really couldn't be mad at him for too long.

"Now, are you going to tell me about this?" Chin asked, picking up the empty wine bottle.

Kono smirked. "Not as exciting as you think, Cuz. I was SKYPE-ing Leilani."

"Cousin Lei? In New Zealand?" Chin asked.

"The one and only," she said, winking.

Chin shook his head and closed his eyes briefly. He laughed. "Please, don't tell me," he said.

"What?" Kono asked innocently.

"It involved, wine and Leilani. That's all I need, no, _want_ to know," Chin amended, moving towards the door. "I better get going."

Kono giggled softly. "Okay, see you tomorrow, Cuz," she said. Chin stopped and turned to hug her.

"Thanks, Kono," he said.

# # #

Five-0 Headquarters  
Honolulu, Hawaii

When Kono got back to the offices from picking up lunch, she found Steve waiting at the conference table for her. "Hey, where'd everybody go?" she asked. "Chin and Danny texted me and told me to not get them anything, so I didn't."

"You got me," Steve replied. "Danny said something about a 'parent-teacher' day at Grace's school and Chin's running background on some files that we've been sitting on, told us to go ahead I guess."

Kono placed their lunch onto the conference table and smirked. She shook her head. "Wow, how apropos," she said arching an eyebrow.

Steve smiled at her. "What? You think I arranged for them to be gone?" he asked moving around the table to stand in front of her.

"Hmm, didn't you?" she asked, now fully smiling as she unpacked their lunch. Kono picked up a set of chopsticks and a napkin and gently shoved them at Steve's chest. He reached up and trapped her hand against himself.

"It's not such a bad thing, is it? Some alone time?" Steve asked as he caressed the back of her hand before taking the utensils and napkin from her.

Kono pulled her hand slowly away, smiling shyly.

"What?" he asked. "We're just having lunch, Kono."

"Okay," she agreed, nodding her head. "Nothing awkward here, right?"

"Right," said Steve. Clapping his hands together, he asked, "where'd you go and what'd you get me?"

Kono chuckled at his eagerness. "Kaka'ako Kitchen. You've got a choice between, Mochiko Chicken or Chicken Katsu Curry," she said as she pulled out the styrofoam containers and popped them open.

Steve groaned in appreciation. "Curry, please," pulling up a chair, he took his container and dove in.

Kono chuckled as she watched him. "Don't forget to breathe, Boss," she reminded.

He stopped chewing and looked at her.

She was just taking a seat across from him when she noticed his intense look and gulped. "What? It's not good? I thought they were pretty good when I'd eaten there before -"

He cut her off with a shake of the head. "No, it's delicious. I just realized something," Steve said, mouth full of food. He took his time swallowing as he watched her.

Kono fidgeted under his gaze.

"You do it to protect yourself, don't you?" he asked, finally.

She shrugged. "I don't get what you mean, Boss."

"That," Steve said, pointing at the air with his chopsticks.

"What?" Kono asked, waving about her chopsticks in response as she did so.

"You use 'Boss' as a way of protecting yourself," he stated. "You use it so you can keep things professional between us."

"I'm supposed to do that," Kono stated back. "I'm the rookie, remember? And besides, last I checked, I work for you."

_Damn, there it was. _"Yes, yeah. But... we're alone now, I just thought... look, since I haven't exactly been that successful at hiding how I feel about you..." Steve trailed off, becoming quiet. He was still watching her.

Kono, put her chopsticks down and sat back. "Boss... " she said softly, not quite making eye contact.

"What? You're going to ask me not to say anything, right?" he asked, suddenly uncomfortable. This time, Steve fidgeted.

She sighed and looked across the table at him. They gazed at each other for a few seconds before Steve visibly relaxed and cracked a smirk, undoing Kono easily. She smirked back. "Okay, I'm not. But can we finish our lunch please? I'd like to at least start eating mine because I'm starving," Kono said quickly.

Steve couldn't help but chuckle at her. "You really like to eat," he said as he returned to his lunch. Kono just glared at him playfully.

After some time of eating in comfortable silence and possibly fueled by food, Kono said, "you don't understand." She stared at him.

Steve looked up to meet her eyes.

Kono smirked slightly and ducked her head. She looked down into her lap, as if to summon the strength before looking up again. "Like I said, _I work for you_, Boss, it wouldn't be right. And I know I shouldn't care what anyone else thinks, but I do. Less than a year out of the Academy..." Kono put down her chopsticks. "_Oh so that's how she got to be on the Governor's special task force. _You know that's what they'll be saying," she added, grunting slightly.

"Who the fuck cares Kono," Steve said. He exhaled loudly and leaned back into his chair, seemingly losing his appetite. He shoved his chopsticks deliberately into the remainder of his white rice.

"Look, _I_ care. Alright? It's my freakin' career on the line, not yours. You'll probably get a pat on the back for 'banging the rookie,'" Kono said making quote marks in mid air with her fingers. "And me?" she pointed to herself. "I'll get what? On top of the fact that everyone can't look past the fact that I'm related to Chin, no one, _no one,_ will take me seriously when they find out that I have the hots for my Boss."

Rubbing a hand across his face, Steve suddenly sat up. "You just said you had the _hots_ for me."

"Oh, shut up! That's why I call you _Boss _alright? Did you even hear what I said?"

He raised his hands apologetically. "Look I get it," Steve said, looking away briefly to compose his thoughts before turning his gaze back to her. "You're still a rookie, you're still building your reputation. Not to mention you're also probably related to half the island and half of _them _are in the family business of law enforcement. I get it Kono," he repeated sincerely. "But you have to remember something, you're already on your way to becoming a great cop and an awesome partner here at Five-0, and you'll only get better."

Kono sighed and leaned into her chair. "Thanks," she said looking down at her hands. "That means a lot to me."

"You're welcome and... I'm sorry that I didn't see it from your side of things Kono," Steve said. "Hey," he ducked his head from across the table so that she would bring her eyes back up to look at him again. "The last thing I want you to think, is that I'm insensitive."

Kono smiled. "No, Boss, I know you aren't."

He smirked. "Look..." he began, glancing around the room before continuing. "I have to admit, part of the reason why I'm glad we're having this conversation is... frankly, I'm having a hard time compartmentalizing my feelings for you and it's driving me a little crazy."

She rolled her eyes and snorted softly. "What?"

"You heard me."

Kono chuckled. "The SEAL found something he couldn't do?"

"Matters of the heart are a different thing all together, Kono," he said quietly, getting up to move around the table towards her. He sat down on the edge of the table to face her.

She nodded and smiled up at him. "Steve... I'm having the same problem you are, you know that, right?"

"Yeah," Steve answered, smiling at her finally using his name. "But, _I_ know what I want to do about it," he said, his blue eyes twinkling.

Arching a brow, Kono sensed a challenge that she wasn't yet willing to accept. She chewed on her bottom lip.

"I just don't think you know yet," he said with a soft chuckle as he watched her suddenly stand to start collecting their food containers.

"Oh... believe me, I know," she said smirking flirtatiously... boldly. She found herself eventually succumbing to her conflicted feelings.

Steve was taken aback but quickly recovered. He laughed as he crossed his arms across his chest and allowed a smile to spread over his handsome face.

Kono reached out to playfully punch his arm. Instead, Steve's lightning reflexes kicked in and after effectively blocking her blow, he now had her in a close embrace. Their faces were now only inches apart, Kono's a bit higher as she stood over him, her hair, falling in a curtain around her face. Steve's hands wrapped firmly around Kono's slim waist as she rested her hands on his shoulders.

"So Kono, what are we going to do then?" Steve asked, his voice low as his mouth tilted up towards hers.

Feeling intoxicated by the combination of his embrace and nearness, Kono felt herself spiraling recklessly out of control.

And then Steve's iPhone rang.

Kono's eyes shut as she took a deep, collecting breath, feeling Steve's hands on her waist tighten as one disappeared. "_McGarrett_..." she heard him answer.

Opening her eyes, she found him staring at her, his frustration evident as he listened to his caller. Kono shook her head and smirked. Placing her hands on either side of his face, she tilted his face up to kiss him on his cheek, near the corner of his mouth as he mumbled something into his phone, clearly surprised, but happy at her actions. And then she gently moved away from him to continue bagging up their lunch containers. His blue eyes shiny as they followed her movements around the table.

When Danny and Chin appeared, coming through the doors to their offices, Steve and Kono knew the moment had passed.

Steve continued to talk on his phone, nodding at Danny and Chin as he made a move to head into his office. But, not before catching a smile from Kono that spoke volumes and had his core filling with a warmth that he'd not felt in some time.

End.

# # #

A/N: This took soooo long. I apologize profusely and hope that you all enjoyed the latest addition to the series. I have to admit, I got the wind knocked out of my sails after all the buzz about a character, maybe even one of the main four, leaving the series. But, I soldiered on, remembering that fan-fiction is out there to fix what the series just can't get right.

P.S. I just want the Universe to know, Cousin Dwight, I do not think you're cheap. Really. The toaster works fine.


	9. Nine

On Love and Other Things

Summary: Danny and Kono have a talk about things.  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything H50.

Thank you everyone for reading, reviewing, commenting and inspiring, as usual. To all the readers who added my story to their alerts, thank you so very much as well.

A/N: I've never mentioned this before, but OLaOT runs parallel and in between the episodes that we've seen, except this one, which is set before _Ho'ohuli Na'au_, because I just don't know how to deal with that Fong kid.

Nine.

# # #

Lanikai Beach  
Oahu

"You did good today Danny," Kono said, bumping her shoulder against his as they sat on a stone wall, facing the ocean.

The sun was already out and their surfboards leaned against the wall, flanking them. Danny looked down at the sand and traced simultaneous circles with his big toes. He smiled before turning to face her, squinting to block out the bright Hawaiian sunshine.

"Thanks... rookie" he said, chuckling softly.

Kono snorted and shook her head. "Of course, Danny," she said with a smile.

"Although, I have to admit, you're definitely not a 'rookie' when it comes to this." Danny swept a hand towards his board and then out toward the ocean. "I, uh, thanks for not telling Steve about these surf lessons too, Kono."

She gave him a knowing look. "You eventually did fess up, right? I mean, he did see a surfboard crammed into the Camaro once. You're lucky he gave up hounding you about it and let you tell him in your own time."

Danny laughed, reaching up to rub a hand across the back of his neck before pulling lightly at the collar of his t-shirt to adjust it. "Yeah, I did. But that man... Steve's like a piece of chewing gum that you just can't get off of the bottom of your shoe. Tenacious as fuck, most times."

"Danny!" Kono admonished. She shook her head and shrugged, eventually laughing too.

"You know I'm right, don't you?" Danny smiled as he pointed at her. "Guess that's what makes him so lovable," he added.

Kono nodded as she threw a tank top on.

The haole studied her and then said, "that's it?"

"That's it, what?"

"He's _lovable._ And you..." he trailed off, wiggling his brows and gesturing with both hands now.

"What? Gees Danny." Kono shook her head slightly and turned back to study the ocean.

"Don't 'gees Danny' me, young lady. What? You don't think I noticed? All the covert glances? The way Steve gets almost goofy around you and vice versa? You're a smart girl, you know what I'm getting at don't you?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, whatever," Kono answered, finally looking back at him. "And what if I decide to ignore whatever you're getting at?" she said back sassily.

"Oh, don't be such a... alright. Alright. You want me to show you? It's easy. It's like this, I love him," Danny said simply, shrugging his shoulders. " I love Steve."

Kono shook her head stubbornly. "Why Danny? What are trying to do to me?"

"Whattya mean? Just say it. Acknowledge it, for crissakes."

"And what will that prove?" she asked.

"For one thing, if you just accepted how you feel about him and came to terms with it, then all that damn awkwardness that's been going on in HQ just might go away. And me? I would get to work in a department with no weird, squishy type feelings floating about. And I tell you what, your cousin? Chin? He would no longer need to sneak peeks out of his office every 15 or so minutes to check on where you guys are," Danny explained, huffing slightly.

Kono just stared at him. "I don't know if I love him," she said finally.

Danny looked at her, shocked. "Wait, what?"

"I mean, am I seriously, like seriously, attracted to him? Yes, for sure brah. But, is it love?" shaking her head, Kono looked down at her hands. "It if is, Danny, I'm not sure I want it."

"Are you crazy? Kono, honey, you," he said pointing at her, "you don't get to choose."

Kono snorted. "You're telling me it's Fate then?"

"Yes! Yeah – look, tell me this much, all that tension in the team, primarily between you two, you feel it right?"

She nodded.

"And Agent Kaye, whenever she's in his office with him, you get a little jealous?"

"Danny... "

"Answer the question, Kono," he prodded.

"Yes, but... " she started but he cut her off, holding up a hand.

"And when he's around, you have to force yourself to focus on your work, on the case, or whatever, otherwise your mind wanders to thinking about... possibilities?"

"What possibilities?" she asked smirking.

"You know, like – uh, what it would be like to kiss him or - eww, something. You, uh - aww, please don't make me say it... " Danny actually started to blush as he scrunched up his face.

Kono giggled and nodded reluctantly. "Fine, Danny, I get what you mean. But, all you're saying brah, is that _I like_ him."

"Aha!" Danny said, jutting a finger out to her, feeling his point proven. "But you like him _more_, than Chin or I do. We're just fond of him," he added, crossing his arms across his chest.

"_Fond_? Really, Danny? I'm fond of Steve too then."

"No, no, no. You like him more, you're more fond of him than we are," he explained.

Kono threw her arms up exasperatedly. "Brah, I don't know where the hell you are going with this, but for your information? I have come to terms with how I feel for him, okay?"

"Wait," Danny straightened slightly. "You have?"

Kono smirked and narrowed her gaze at Danny. "You're doing this for Chin, aren't you?"

He rolled his eyes and sighed heavily.

"I thought you were fishing for Steve," she said laughing. "And then I got confused, because, Steve and I already talked and... " She stopped, noticing Danny's interest was suddenly peaked. "Eh, mind your own business," she said switching gears and narrowing her gaze even more.

"Oh, no... you do not get to pull that on me," Danny said, waving a finger at her again.

"Yes, I do," she said in a tone that wasn't to be argued with. "Tell Chin, _I know_, okay? I mean, I don't think I know exactly what to do, Danny. But you're right you know? You don't get to choose. Fate, took my knee that day for a reason."

Danny's eyes flickered with understanding as he turned to look out at the beautiful Pacific again. Turning his gaze up and down the white sandy beach, with palm trees lining the shoreline, swaying from the ocean breeze, he couldn't help but think Fate had something definitely in mind when it brought him here. Not just for Grace, but for his new found ohana as well.

"I care for Steve, very deeply Danny," Kono said softly. "Is that what you want to hear? But, I care for all of you deeply, I just..."

"You just care _even more deeply_ for Steve," Danny finished for her. He smiled and patted her on he knee. "You act like it's a bad thing."

Kono gave him a withering smile. "It's not. It's just that we're a team, you know? I don't want anything to come between any of us."

"Why the hell are you so sensible?" he asked, laughing. "Nothing is going to come between any of us, alright? You know why?"

She shook her head and smiled.

"Because there's no way in hell we would ever let that happen," he promised. "C'mon, Kono, we're talking about you and Steve." Danny was all too aware of why Kono was so sensitive about the fracturing of the 5-0 family. After what Chin had gone through to protect their uncle all those years and after her urging him to come clean and confess about what their uncle had done, it was no wonder she was so hesitant to disturb the current stability of the team. "I get that you're worried about the 'what ifs' Kono, but seriously babe? No one lives like that. _You_, don't live like that."

Kono bumped her shoulder against his again and smiled. "Williams, who'd have thought, huh?"

"What?" Danny asked, grunting slightly.

"That you would be so Dr. Phil," she explained.

"_Dr. Phil? Dr. Phil?_" he questioned, acting affronted. He chuckled as he gestured to himself. "That's cute." He waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever, I – I happen to have a bit of experience in this whole relationship thing okay?"

Kono arched a brow at him.

"Let me tell you why, okay?" he asked, not really acknowledging Kono rolling her eyes in response to his rhetorical question. "I don't regret a single moment, minute, argument, glare-slash-look, kiss and _other things_, Rachel and I ever experienced. And if I had lived in a world where I never took any chances, I would never have those memories of Rachel and I would never have Grace," he finished, watching Kono closely.

Kono rolled her eyes again, acquiescing. "Okay, Danny, I get it," she said, chewing on her bottom lip. She turned to squint towards the ocean. "But, can I ask you something?" she asked.

"Sure, go'head."

"You didn't just grill me about my feelings for Steve for Chin, but for yourself too, right?"

Danny laughed loudly, pointing a finger towards her again. "I told you, you're a smart girl."

# # #

Hilton Hawaiian Village  
Waikiki, Oahu

"Another Friday night watching the fireworks show?" asked Chin, taking a long pull off of his beer and leaning back in his chair. He glanced around to take in the crowd that had gathered at the Hilton's oceanfront restaurant.

Danny smirked. "I uh, I could think of worse ways to spend a Friday night," he added, glancing around as well.

Chin shook his head, "what was her name again? Sandrine?"

"Hmm?" Danny asked, feigning interest. In truth, he had already inquired if the beautiful server that Steve allowed to sign his cast was working and she was, but he had yet to spot her.

The older man just smirked and shook his head again, noting that Steve was headed their way with a couple of more beers.

"Hey," Steve greeted as he took a seat and handed a beer towards Danny. He looked around and leaned back in his chair.

Chin and Danny exchanged a look, then Danny mumbled under his breath to Chin, "watch this." He redirected his attention to Steve. "Hey uh, Steve, being the good wing-man that I am, I thought, maybe you'd like to know, _Sandrine_ is working tonight," he said smirking and arching his brows.

"Who?" Steve asked appearing distracted.

"Who?" Danny asked back, almost dropping his beer onto the table for emphasis. "The 'cast signer,' you remember her, right? Kamekona wanted to take her off to the beach to uh, 'matriculate' with her?" he reminded, chuckling.

Chin's eyes crinkled and he joined in, chuckling at the memory of Kamekona with a tablecloth wrapped around his arm.

Steve grinned "Oh yeah, her."

"_Her_?" asked Danny, not at all surprised. He knew where his partner's attention really was. He just wanted to see if he could irritate Steve, but it wasn't working.

Steve shrugged. "She's cute."

Chin quirked a brow towards Danny, who snorted. "She's more than cute, Steven. _Cute_ is Gracie, alright? She's a cutie-patootie in my book for sure. I may be biased, but I'm pretty sure I'm not," stated Danny. "On the other hand, Sandrine is - "

"Yes?" asked Sandrine, as she stepped up their table after hearing her name called. She smiled brightly at Danny and then switched to Chin and then Steve.

"Uh, we'd like another round of beers, please," Danny said to her, pouring on the charm. "You look lovely, by the way," he said, for added measure.

Sandrine giggled, her smile widening. "Thanks, I'll be right back, boys," she said.

All three men laughed. "Smooth, brah," said Chin as he shook his head.

Steve glanced around again. Chin and Danny knew what was going on and they finally decided to give the guy a break. "She's out there," Chin pointed, directing Steve's gaze towards the beach. The sun was quickly setting, and out on the sand, where few people were walking along the water, a lone woman strolled in a short, plum colored, spaghetti strapped, sun dress. "She looks kinda like she needs some company, don't you think brah?" Chin asked.

Steve looked at Chin questioningly with a lopsided smile.

Danny snorted. "Go. What're you waiting for, an invite? That _was_ your invite."

The grin that then spread across Steve's face, somehow, made his blue eyes appear even bluer. Both Danny and Chin smiled back as an understanding passed between the three of them.

"You hurt her, I'll do more than beat you, you know that?" Chin asked as he watched Steve get out of his chair to join Kono.

"Yeah, I know. But I wouldn't ever do something like that to her," Steve said. It was a promise.

"We know," Danny said. "Please go. She's been waiting for you, you know? Go already," he added, shooing him away.

The two men watched as Steve ran up to Kono. They grinned as they saw a smile and a few words exchanged between the two. And, as the golden hues of the sunset disappeared, now replaced with the explosive colors of the fireworks, they saw Steve wrap a protective arm around Kono's shoulders and knew that all would be good, in the end.

End.

# # #

A/N: I know, sad premonition going on here with what Danny promises Kono. Though we don't know quite yet what the end of the season holds (holy crap, Chin!), this story is quickly turning into an AU... sigh, oh, well, it was gonna happen sometime. LOL. And also, I have decided, that this will be it. Epilogue is next. Fear not, OLaOT may be ending, but it will free me up to do other KoVe stories. Thank you for reading!


	10. Epilogue

On Love and Other Things

Summary: The future for Kono and Steve.  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything H50

Thank you everyone, as always, for reviewing, commenting, supporting and inspiring. Double thanks for adding the alerts and faves. And a truly heartfelt thanks for following OLaOT.

Epilogue.

# # #

One Month Later  
Five-0 HQ

"Hey, Steve?" Kono asked poking her head into his office. "You got a minute?"

Steve smiled and waved her in. Getting up from his office chair, he moved around the desk to sit on its edge as she walked in. "Hey," he said, smiling again. "What's up?"

Kono winced a little as she came to stand before him, obviously having something difficult to tell him. "I have to go out of town," she said softly.

"Wait, why?" he asked, surprised and clearly disappointed.

"My cousin Leilani, in New Zealand? She's about to give birth," she started to explain. Kono watched as Steve nodded, awaiting further elaboration. "She was there for me when I blew my knee out and I was there for her when she miscarried. This baby? It's a miracle baby, Steve," she said.

"Well, that's fantastic and I'm guessing you want to go to be with her to give her some support?" he asked, concerned.

"I wouldn't ask otherwise. I mean, her mom, my Auntie Hoku will be there, and of course her husband Eddy but, I just... she's - they've been trying for five years - "

"Go, Kono. She's family and she's important to you. And being there is important for you," he said, giving her a lopsided smile.

"Are you sure? I mean, we just wrapped up that Kunia case... " Kono asked back.

"Yeah, go," he said waving it off, trying to appear cool. "When would you leave?" he asked.

"Now."

"What? I mean, I thought maybe I could give you a ride to the airport or something," Steve said.

Kono shook her head. "She may have to induce tomorrow, if the baby doesn't come while I'm in the air," she said with a smirk. "Besides, you can't give me a ride, you and Danny have a meeting with the Governor in five minutes, remember?"

Steve looked at his watch and rolled his eyes. "Right," he said dropping his head. He smiled as he brought his gaze back to her. "Are we ever going to get some time for ourselves?"

"I know, right?" Kono snorted softly. "One day, all the criminals in Honolulu will take some time off and then maybe, just maybe, we'll actually get to work on _us_ for once," she said, arching a brow.

Steve stood as he noticed Danny exit his office. He looked at Kono tenderly and exhaled loudly, working his jaw. "Hurry back?" he asked, his blue eyes soft.

Kono smiled up at him and nodded. "Oh, yeah."

Wrapping his arms around her, Steve placed a chaste kiss on Kono's forehead before leaving his office to catch up to Danny and head out.

# # #

_...Hey, I know we've been so busy lately. I just wanted you to know that we'll get there. It's gonna be rough being away from the team, being away from you. But, thanks for letting me be there for Leilani, Steve..._

…_I haven't changed my mind about anything, no second thoughts, I promise..._

_...hopefully, I'll be back soon..._

* * *

Steve folded Kono's letter and smiled to himself. Tucking it into his shirt pocket, he exited his office and headed straight towards Chin's.

"Hey," he said, opening the door. "You got an address for your cousin Leilani's in New Zealand?"

# # #

Honolulu  
Oahu

_...I thought about you today. I realize it makes it sound as if that happens only once in a while, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. I think about you all the time. I miss you. But anyway, Danny and I took Grace to the beach and he showed her his moves on the surfboard. And then she showed him. It was funny, Danny getting owned by Gracie... _

_...I know you said it'll only be two weeks, but I don't think I could ever get used to being away from you... _

_...I know you already know how much I miss you. But, Danny's driving me nuts. Secretly, he misses you too. Chin claims you bring balance to the team. I know you bring balance to me... _

* * *

Kono folded the last of the letters she received from Steve just as the captain turned on the 'fasten seat-belt' sign. She couldn't help but smile at how cheesy Steve was in his letters. Right before she left HQ that day, she tucked a note onto his desk, just because. But, two days into her trip to New Zealand, a FedEx letter arrived for her at her cousin Leilani's house. It was from Steve. And ever since then, they started a ridiculously expensive, two week long, incredibly romantic, love affair, through mail that was crisscrossing each other across the Pacific.

Kono shook her head at the thought and fastened her seat-belt. She looked out the window at Oahu as it came in to view and chewed on her thumbnail. Feeling anxious and a nervousness in her gut, she wondered where it all suddenly came from. She was after all, just coming home.

But of course she knew.

It was what waited for her at home that caused her to be so flustered. Add in the fact that she left New Zealand a day early to surprise a certain Lt. Commander, and of course, her nerves were shot. She just couldn't wait anymore. She'd called ahead to Chin and he'd worked things out for her.

When she finally landed, she noticed that it had just started raining. The cooling effect the rain had on the islands, calmed her and emerging from the baggage claim, she found Chin outside with her Cruze.

"Cousin!" she greeted, giving him a hug.

He smiled, hugging her back in return. "Howzit, Cuz, how was the trip? Leilani guys okay? The baby boy, Noah okay too?" he asked. Chin threw her bag into the trunk and tossed her the keys as she got in. "Drop me off at your apartment, I left my bike there," he said as he got into the passenger side.

As Kono pulled out and took the freeway exit into town, she glanced over at Chin. "Yeah, Noah's good. Got a mess of hair just like Eddy does. Big boy though, eight pounds, nine ounces! Poor Leilani is in so much pain from the C-Section, but you know her... always has her eye on the prize, Noah's all that matters now."

"That's good to hear though, it was a long time to wait for a baby," Chin stated.

"Yeah, I know. It was so good to see her, all of them. They're all so happy, you know? How was everything here?" she asked that last part nonchalantly.

Chin smiled at the change in subject. "You want the truth?" he asked, quirking a brow.

"Of course," she answered.

"We were all miserable without you. Does that make you feel good?" he asked.

"No, because I know you're not being serious, c'mon Chin," she said.

"I am being serious. Who else would help me with the tech stuff? Those two? No way. And Danny was the most miserable one of all," added Chin. "Even more than Steve."

"Danny? Why?" Kono questioned, arching a brow.

"Because _of_ Steve," he answered simply.

"Oh," she said softly as she pulled into her apartment driveway.

"Yeah, 'oh,'" he mocked. "He's at home," Chin said smiling as he opened the door to get out. "Take your time, I think I'll hang out at your place, to wait out the rain?"

Kono nodded and smiled. "Thanks Cuz," she said as he closed the door and ran towards the lobby of her building to avoid getting wet.

The rest of the drive out to Steve's place, Kono had to consciously stop herself from hyperventilating. Never, had the urge to see Steve had been so immediate. She could feel herself practically jumping out of her skin. They had after all, barely got started when Leilani called asking for help.

Pulling into Steve's driveway and stopping her car, she started debating with herself and questioning whether she had enough nerve to actually get out, walk up to his front door and knock on it. The rain helped somewhat to alleviate her anxiety and she hoped would give her some cover from her fright. And then she finally decided to just do it and got out of her car. With no umbrella, she immediately got soaked and when she got a few yards from his front door, she saw the door swing open and Steve stepped out. Giving her a look that caused her breath to catch, she stopped as he walked towards her. She was drenched by the time he reached her. Without saying a word, he placed a hand on each side of her face and gently caressed her cheeks before bringing his lips down to hers. The kiss was warm, electric, wet and urgent, as if he'd been waiting forever to breathe. Kono's hands grabbed at his wet t-shirt, making their way to his back, she held on tight as he continued to take her breath away.

When they finally broke apart, he said, "I guess you got in early."

"Surprise," she said, looking into his blue eyes and smiling.

Steve chuckled and kissed her again, pulling her in and wrapping his arms tightly around her. They broke apart long enough for Steve to say, "welcome home." And then Kono smiled in surprise as Steve lifted her easily and carried her into his house.

# # #

Five Years Later  
McGarrett Home

"Steve, I've gotta tell you man, you - you've got great timing," said Danny with a smug smile.

"What the hell are you talking about Danny? You're like the third person to say that to me today," Steve replied, looking perplexed. "Chin, and Kamekona said the same thing," he added as he grabbed some burger buns from his kitchen cabinet. "I mean, I can't figure out if you guys are talking about my proposal to Kono or something else."

Danny just shrugged and smiled. "You want me to take these burgers out back?" he asked, picking up the plate.

"Hey. Danno, hey -" Steve called as he followed Danny out to the backyard.

Danny just laughed and shook his head.

Out back, the grill was fired up, there were drinks going around, the table was set up and laden with local eats and all of the Five-0 family and extended family were there. They had all gathered to celebrate Steve and Kono's engagement. Which in some of their eyes took forever to happen. But when it did, it seemed all too appropriate and fitting.

Steve gave up on Danny the moment he stepped out into the sunshine. Kono walked up to him and took the burger buns from him with a smile. "Mary's finally here," she said with a nod towards the table, where Mary stood whispering something to Danny. Steve gave Kono a quick kiss on the temple before turning to his sister.

"Hey, what took you so long Mary?" Steve said as he tended the grill, adding the burgers and turning the chicken and ribs.

Mary winked at Kono before turning to Steve. "I wanted to pick up something for my sister-in-law to be," she answered.

Steve arched a brow and smirked at his sister. But then he noticed knowing smiles from Danny, Chin and pretty much everyone else there. He looked at the large package in Mary's hands and stepped away from the grill. "What's going on?" he asked, looking at Kono.

"She had nothing to do with it... well, partly. You did too, actually," Mary said with a smirk and a roll of the eyes. She giggled at her brother's confused look. "I picked this out for both of you really," she explained. "But, well, just open it, Steve. I actually had to have it made."

He looked at Kono first, but at her nod, he grabbed the package from Mary. When he opened it he pulled out a Kevlar vest. He shook his head and looked back at Mary questioningly.

Some of the barbecue goers laughed, notably Danny and Chin.

Kono shook her head but smiled fondly at Mary, hugging her.

"I don't get it," Steve said looking at the vest in his hands. "We already have these, Mary," he said. But not wanting to offend his sister, he said, "uh, thanks?"

Mary rolled her eyes again. "Look at it, really look at it."

Steve held the vest up and noticed that it seemed longer than normal and that the width of padding and protection around the waist seemed to be wider and bigger, apparently covering more... and then it dawned on him. He looked at Danny who smirked and winked at him. Chin smacked him on the shoulder as his eyes crinkled from a giant smile spreading across his face. The other friends and family in attendance began to murmur and talk excitedly. Steve's eyes met his sister's and then Kono's.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" he asked Kono as he stepped closer to her.

Kono chewed on her bottom lip before looking at him. She grinned. "Yeah, it does."

Steve rested a hand on her stomach and laughed. Grinning from ear to ear, he ducked his head to kiss her, and as he picked her up to twirl her around, their ohana cheered and clapped, joining in on their new found happiness.

The end.

# # #

A/N: Oh. Emm. Gee. This turned out cheesier than I expected, but _cdnyellowrose? _You're right, cheese is good, a little or a lot, doesn't matter. Seriously, I found that I couldn't really avoid it. _Sammie28_, you're absolutely right about how I portrayed Kono's love, which is why I wanted these two to end up happy in OLaOT, dammit. And truthfully, I owe all the KoVe readers out there for continuously following this story and encouraging me. Every little comment, whether I responded to it or not was truly insightful and helpful and just plain nice. _Mahalo nui loa_.


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